Real Madrid 4-1 Las Palmas: Match review

Real Madrid eased past Las Palmas on matchday 20 of La Liga and now comfortably sit at the top of the table ahead of their rivals, Atletico Madrid and FC Barcelona.

As expected, Dani Ceballos started in place of Aurelien Tchouaméni as the Frenchman suffered discomfort in his left leg a few hours before kickoff.

Los Blancos could not have got off to a worse start as it took Fabio Silva just 26 seconds to open the scoring for Las Palmas from a Sandro Ramirez cross.

Just a couple of minutes later, Brahim Díaz missed a chance in front of an open goal after he was left open from a sumptuous Rodrygo pass.

Las Palmas continued to threaten to score another and showed that they were not at the Santiago Bernabeu to just hang around.

But Rodrygo was causing all sorts of trouble on the left wing and ultimately earned a penalty for his side. Kylian Mbappe made no mistake, sending Jasper Cillessen the wrong way to score the equaliser.

Carlo Ancelotti’s side were playing some eye catching and smooth football with the Bernabeu faithful enjoying watching their side play – which was the opposite feeling against Celta Vigo.

The Merengues were firing on all cylinders and finally got their reward in the 33rd minute, when Mbappe smoothly bypassed the Las Palmas midfield, took a shot from outside the box which was saved.

Cillessen was unable to keep his save out and it rolled towards Lucas Vazquez and the Spaniard just played a pass for Brahim Díaz to put into the back of the empty net.

The French World Cup winner continued to show his class after he scored the third of the night, having to smash the ball home from his first touch.

The Frenchman also thought he had scored a first half hattrick but was found offside after a VAR check – which was reportedly after the match found to be a wrong call and that the striker was not offside.

Kylian looked in sublime form and the fans knew that this was not the final goal of the night as both teams headed towards half time.

Real Madrid did not complain and headed into half time completely satisfied but obviously hungry for more.

And that is exactly what happened, when Real Madrid began the second half putting the same amount of pressure on their amounts and not taking their foot off the peddle.

Fran García continued his good form after he helped Rodrygo score an easy goal to put the game to bed – if it was not already at this point.

Dani Ceballos was putting on an extraordinary performance in midfield and perhaps his best display this season.

Jude Bellingham also remained on the unlucky side after his goal was also found to be offside – perhaps correctly.

Arguably the loudest cheer of the match occurred in the 75th minute when David Alaba jogged onto the pitch for the first time in more than a year, having last played in a 4-1 win against Villareal in December 2023. The Austrian slotted into Antonio Rüdiger’s position and was cheered on for the rest of the match.

Fede Valverde thought he had scored his first goal from inside the box this season but again the VAR check overturned the decision as Vazquez was found offside when the ball was struck.

A brilliant performance for every Real Madrid player since everyone played a part some way or the other. After getting off to a bad start, they ended the match with a thumping victory with the possibility of the scoreline being 7-1 at the end of the game.

Dani Ceballos was full of praise for Mbappe, mentioning how much of a game changer the star striker has been for Los Blancos.

Even the Las Palmas manager was also on the same page, commenting if this is the Kylian Mbappe who is supposedly out of form, imagine what he could be when he is in form.

Real Madrid are now the league leaders, with Atletico Madrid and Barcelona being 2 and 7 points behind the Vikings.

The turnaround has been one worth watching despite not playing the best football. But it is what it is, at the end of the day, you just have to grind out results and Real Madrid seem to do it better than any other team in La Liga right now.