Real Madrid beats Sevilla 4–1 to keep pace in La Liga title race

Kylian Mbappe scored twice to guide Real Madrid to a 4-1 victory over Sevilla at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium on Sunday, moving the club to third place in La Liga. The win keeps Madrid within six points of league leader Barcelona, which defeated Real Betis 5-2 on Saturday, and one point adrift of second-place Atletico Madrid.

Arda Guler opened the scoring for Madrid in the 30th minute with a strike into the top corner, moments after a video assistant referee review cleared the Turkish international of an apparent elbow on Sevilla midfielder Peque without issuing a red card. Mbappe doubled the advantage in the 37th minute after dribbling past Sevilla goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos, before converting a penalty in the 63rd minute.

Sevilla pulled one back through Manu Bueno, but Yan Diomande sealed Madrid's win in the 82nd minute to leave the visitors sixth in the table. Madrid played without Vinicius Junior, who was serving the first match of a four-game suspension for pulling an opponent's hair and aggressively confronting a match referee.

Across other European leagues, Bayer Leverkusen defeated Freiburg 2-1 after rallying from an early deficit, ending the visitors' unbeaten start to the Bundesliga season. In France, Monaco lost 1-0 at Lorient to surrender its unbeaten Ligue 1 record, allowing Lyon to climb to the top of the French standings following a 2-1 win over Nice.