Real Madrid beat a ten-man Valencia 3-0 at the Estadio de Mestalla on Saturday evening, according to a Pulse Nigeria match report. The result was their fifth consecutive LaLiga win and kept the pressure on the teams above them in the table.
Real Madrid, managed by José Mourinho according to the report, played without the suspended Vinícius Júnior. They still controlled the game from the start against a struggling Valencia side coached by Javier Aguirre, holding most of the possession and pushing the hosts back into their own half.
Goals before the break
Federico Valverde broke the deadlock in the 28th minute. A free-kick from Kylian Mbappé was blocked, and the Uruguayan midfielder reacted first to the rebound and drove a powerful shot into the bottom corner.
Eight minutes later, in the 36th minute, Arda Güler made it 2-0 with a finish into the top corner. Valencia had only one shot on target in the first half, and the report says they struggled against a Madrid defence anchored by Ibrahima Konaté and Dean Huijsen.
Mbappé seals it, Gayà sees red
Madrid managed the second half comfortably. The match was effectively settled in the 74th minute, when Güler played a precise through ball to Mbappé, who finished to make it 3-0.
Valencia's afternoon got worse in the 79th minute when defender José Gayà was shown a straight red card for bringing down Mbappé and denying a clear goalscoring chance. The hosts played out the rest of the match with ten men.
