Racing 0-3 Real Madrid: Mbappé, Bellingham and Diomandé settle it inside 36 minutes

Racing 0-3 Real Madrid: José Mourinho’s side scored three times in 25 first-half minutes to end Racing Santander’s unbeaten home record at El Sardinero.

Main image: DSN graphic. Photo: Junta de Andalucía / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0

Kylian Mbappé, Jude Bellingham and Yan Diomandé were all on the scoresheet before the break as Madrid, without the suspended Vinícius Júnior, moved on to 24 points from ten LaLiga games.

Racing 0-3 Real Madrid: a first-half blitz

Racing went into the game with three wins and two draws at home, a record we highlighted in our Racing v Real Madrid preview. It lasted 11 minutes.

Mbappé was brought down in the box and dusted himself off to send the penalty home. Ten minutes later Arda Güler slid a perfectly weighted pass through for Bellingham, who made it two.

The best was saved for the 36th minute, when Diomandé curled a superb right-footed shot into the top corner. Mbappé, who left the France camp with a knee tendon injury in September, as covered in our report on Mbappé leaving the France camp, looked sharp throughout and struck the post before the hour.

Final score	Racing Santander 0-3 Real Madrid
Goals	Mbappé 11′ (pen), Bellingham 21′, Diomandé 36′
Real Madrid shots	22
Real Madrid xG	3.45
Racing shots on target	1
Real Madrid	24 pts (W8 L2)
Racing Santander	11 pts (W3 D2 L5)

VAR rescues Tchouaméni

Racing managed just one shot on target all afternoon, and their best route back into the game was taken away midway through the second half. Referee José Luis Munuera Montero pointed to the spot for a challenge by Aurélien Tchouaméni in the 72nd minute, only for VAR to overturn the decision.

Mourinho had no doubts. “For me, it’s obvious it wasn’t a penalty,” he said, adding that “if VAR isn’t asleep, it’s not a penalty.” He praised the referee’s technical display but took aim at the hosts’ behaviour, claiming: “They protest everything.”

Pressure on the top of LaLiga

The win keeps the pressure on Barcelona at the top, while Racing, who had won 2-1 against Espanyol in their previous outing, stay on 11 points. Elsewhere in LaLiga, the weekend also brought a new era at Villarreal, as set out in our Villarreal v Espanyol preview.

Mourinho has spoken before about the strain of the calendar on his players. Our sister site DGBN covered his warning that a three-week international break was a concern.