Mbappé's brace at Villarreal lifts Real Madrid into La Liga lead

Those were Mbappe's La Liga-leading 20th and 21st goals in 20 appearances by the France star.

Madrid has stayed close to Barcelona even though it has not been playing up to the standards of its demanding club executives and supporters.

The club fired coach Xabi Alonso after it lost to Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup final two weeks ago, only for the team to also endure an embarrassing exit to a second-tier team in the Copa del Rey in the debut of his replacement, Álvaro Arbeloa.

The sudden coaching change and poor play sparked fan protests during Madrid’s last two home games, a pair of wins in La Liga and the Champions League.

But a loss by Barcelona at Real Sociedad last weekend opened the door for Madrid to slip ahead at Villarreal. And now Arbeloa has overseen three comfortable victories in a row.

Arbeloa praised Mbappé and fellow forward Vinícius Júnior, whose incisive play with the ball helped set up both goals. Vinícius received the worst of the jeers in the Santiago Bernabeu this week.

“They are two of the best players in the world, they break down defenses and we try to get them as many touches as we can,” Arbeloa said. “Winning at this ground has a lot of merit and it is thanks to the work of all my players.”

Villarreal still has one more game to play but it fell into fourth place at 10 points behind Madrid.

Senegal hero back for Villarreal

Pape Gueye, the hero of Senegal thanks to his extra-time goal to beat Morocco in the Africa Cup of Nations final last week, was back in Villarreal’s starting lineup.

Gueye's long strike from outside the area just missed in the host's best chance in the first half.

Morocco forward Brahim Díaz, who missed a penalty that could have given Morocco a lead late in stoppage time, went on as a second-half substitute for Madrid.

Mbappé pounces on flubbed clearance

Mbappé pounced on a loose ball to score in the 47th minute. Vinícius Júnior dribbled to the endline on the left side and his squared pass was deflected by Gueye. But Mbappé was the fastest to the ball and slammed it under goalkeeper Luiz Júnior.

Gerard Moreno had a superb chance to equalize for Villarreal in the 63rd when a set play set him up all alone in the middle of the area only for him to fire high.

Mbappé converted the penalty he earned after he was tripped by Alfonso Pedraza.

Villarreal lost Argentina defender Juan Foyth to a left leg injury in the first half.

Espanyol remains stalled

Valencia edged Espanyol 3-2 after the referee awarded the host a questionable penalty in injury time when Rubén Sánchez was adjudged to have fouled Lucas Beltrán.

The video review didn’t overrule the initial decision, even though it appeared clear that Beltrán ran into Sánchez before falling.

Largie Ramazani converted the winning spot kick to ensure fifth-placed Espanyol’s winless run reached four games.

Tight in lower half of table

Sevilla fought back for a 2-1 win over Athletic Bilbao at home. That snapped a five-game winless run for Sevilla.

Osasuna also won at Rayo Vallecano 3-1 to move into eighth place.

Only four points separate Osasuna and Getafe down in 17th in a compact lower half of the table that includes Rayo, Sevilla and Athletic.

A minute of silence was held before kickoff in all of this weekend’s games for the victims of two deadly train wrecks in Spain this week.

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