Mbappe treble helps extend Madrid's edge over rival Atletico

MADRID — Kylian Mbappe continued his rich vein of form with a hat-trick on Saturday to power Real Madrid to a 3-0 win over Valladolid and open up a four-point lead at the top of La Liga.

Second-placed Atletico Madrid drew 1-1 at home earlier against Villarreal, while Barcelona, third, trailed Los Blancos by 10 points before hosting Valencia on Sunday.

Mbappe has hit his devastating best in recent weeks, after struggling for consistency following his summer switch from Paris Saint-Germain.

The French superstar climbed to 15 league goals for the season, trailing only Barcelona's Robert Lewandowski, on 16.

Mbappe's first Madrid treble helped his team, playing without suspended Brazil international Vinicius Jr, ease to a simple away victory against bottom side Valladolid.

"I'm happy with the hat-trick, but more happy with the win, I feel like I say that every week but it's the truth," Mbappe told Real Madrid TV.

"It was very important to win today after Atletico's result... so we're happy and go back to Madrid with the victory."

The host made early inroads, with Madrid stopper Thibaut Courtois saving from David Torres' header, but that was about as good as it got for Valladolid.

Madrid started to chip away at its opponent, and made the breakthrough in the 30th minute when Jude Bellingham nudged a deflected pass through to Mbappe, who curled a shot into the top corner.

The former PSG star has scored in each of his last five games for his new club, and is looking every part the potent attacking force Madrid was hoping he would be.

Madrid was controlling the game without creating too many chances, but with Mbappe in his purple patch, he only needed one more to put the game to bed.

Rodrygo slipped the forward in, who curled a low effort past goalkeeper Karl Hein in the 57th minute from a similar position to his first goal.

Mbappe completed his hat-trick from the penalty spot in the final stages, after Mario Martin lunged into a tackle on Bellingham in the area.

The Valladolid midfielder took the ball, but then smashed into the England international's calf with his studs up and was dismissed.

Mbappe sent Hein the wrong way from twelve yards to claim his 12th goal in his last 11 games across all competitions.

"Mbappe is bringing a lot to the team, he's found form in the last couple of months, and, obviously, for us that's a plus. He's a player with a lot of quality," Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti told reporters.

"We've got an advantage in the league, but there's too far to go to say it's over, we've got a small advantage and I hope we can take advantage of that in the coming games."

Hard-fought tie

Atletico Madrid dropped two more points in the title race in a hard-fought draw with Villarreal.

Samuel Lino's strike after 58 minutes pulled Diego Simeone's side level, after Villarreal took the lead through a first-half Gerard Moreno penalty at the Metropolitano stadium.

Simeone began with key players Antoine Griezmann and Rodrigo de Paul on the bench, rotating his side after its draining Champions League comeback win against Bayer Leverkusen in midweek.

Atletico, looking to bounce back from last weekend's defeat by minnow Leganes, which snapped a 15-match winning streak across all competitions, found it hard to break down the fifth-placed visitor in the first half.

Villarreal took the lead against the run of play when Reinildo Mandava brought down Moreno in the area.

Veteran Spain international Moreno dusted himself down and beat Jan Oblak from the spot.

Atletico pulled level before the hour mark, when Lino bundled home at the back post after Angel Correa's improvised backheel effort was deflected by Luiz Junior into his path.

"We found the draw, we took the game to a place where we could have won it, but it wasn't possible," said Simeone. "We will continue on our path, going game by game."

AFP