Madrid (AFP) - French international striker Kylian Mbappé overcame a week full of turmoil by scoring a goal from a penalty kick that helped his team continue its strong performances despite the absence of the other star, Brazilian Vinicius Junior, and achieved its sixth successive victory in various competitions, after defeating its host Racing Santander 3-0 on Sunday in the eleventh round of the Spanish Football League.

Published on: 01/11/2026 - 18:33

Mbappe narrowly lost the Ballon d'Or award to Bayern Munich's English international striker Harry Kane last Monday, and then was forced to apologize after a storm of criticism on social media following a video clip in which he joked with former Chinese leader Mao Zedong.

The Real Madrid match, along with other matches in the Spanish League this week, was not broadcast on Chinese state television due to the repercussions of this case.

Mbappe gave the Royal Club the lead from a penalty kick in the 11th minute of the first half, and he did not need more than that to secure his victory, after the Englishman Jude Bellingham (21) and the Ivorian Yann Deomande (36) added the second and third goals.

Since winger Vinicius was sent off against Villarreal on October 10 and suspended for four league matches, the capital team has achieved three victories in the tournament, including over its rival Barcelona.

Portuguese coach Jose Mourinho's team also won two matches in the Champions League, but with the main participation of the Brazilian, who is supposed to return to the local stadiums against Celta Vigo on November 21 at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, while he will miss the match against Valencia before that.

Real Madrid's management may be happy with this victory, but the fact that its team's match was not broadcast on any of the two sports channels affiliated with the government CCTV network, according to what was monitored by Agence France-Presse, raises its concern.

The official Chinese channel has not yet broadcast any match from the eleventh stage of the league, which is the first since the outbreak of the issue of Mbappe’s statements regarding former Chinese leader Mao Zedong.

The crisis began over the weekend with the spread of a video clip in which Mbappe talked about a satirical image circulating about him, including one linking him to a “Chinese dictator,” in reference to modified images in which his face was placed on famous shots of Mao Zedong (1893-1976).

On the field, the visitors quickly imposed their control, and Turkish Arda Guler almost opened the scoring when Englishman Trent Alexander-Arnold's cross reached him in front of the goal, but he shot the ball high (7).

Three minutes later, Mbappé won a penalty kick, which he executed himself, opening the scoring (11).

Iker Luke almost scored an equaliser, had it not been for returning Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois making a brilliant save (13).

Billingham added the second when Guler put him against Julen Aguirzabala with a perfect through pass, after which he passed the advancing goalkeeper and put the ball into his own net (21).

Diomande finished things off with a wonderful shot from outside the penalty area, which Aguirzabala was unable to block (36).

With the result secured, the visitors' performance declined in the second half, amid futile attempts by the hosts

With this victory, Real Madrid raised its score to 27 points in third place, remaining one point behind its neighbor Atletico, and three points behind leaders Barcelona.

The Spanish capital club will host AEK of Greece on Wednesday, seeking a fourth victory in the Champions League.

On the other hand, Racing Santander suffered its first loss after two victories in the league and the cup, and its score froze at 11 points.

In another match, Getafe defeated its guest Sevilla 3-1. He scored for the hosts, the Turkish Enyas Unal (68), the Uruguayan Martin Satriano (73) and the Belgian substitute Aurel Mangala (90+4), and for the visitors Kiki Salas (19) while his fellow substitute Manuel Bueno was sent off (90+1).

© 2026 AFP

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