Kylian Mbappé marked his Real Madrid debut with a goal as Los Blancos made history, beating Atalanta 2-0 in the UEFA Super Cup in Warsaw to lift the trophy for a record-breaking sixth time in nine appearances.
All eyes were on the European champions, who lined up with a menacing forward line containing Mbappé, Jude Bellingham and Vinícius Jr. Carlo Ancelotti’s men looked threatening in the early stages too, especially down the right-flank through Federico Valderde and Dani Carvajal, but the Atalanta defence coped reasonably well.
The Italian outfit, making their first appearance in the Super Cup, didn’t look out of place and posed their own threat on Los Blancos’ goal.
Gian Piero Gasperini’s men began to grow into the contest, and soon had the better of proceedings. A well-worked move almost produced the opening goal midway through the first half, with Éder Militão left breathing a sigh of relief after deflecting Marten de Roon’s cross off his own bar.
The Europa League winners remained on top as the interval neared with Éderson firing wide, though Rodrygo almost nicked the opener in stoppage-time when his effort crashed off the bar, ensuring honours were even at halftime.
Atalanta continued to threaten following the restart, only denied a goal by an exceptional fingertip save from Thibaut Courtois to keep out Mario Pašalić’s header. That save proved pivotal when Real Madrid executed a trademark sucker punch.
Vinícius Jr showcased his tremendous dribbling ability in the box, breezing past his marker before squaring the ball to lay it on a plate for Valverde to tap into an empty net. Madrid smelled blood in the water and almost immediately doubled their lead, but Bellingham’s deflected shot was heroically clawed off the line by Juan Musso.
Madrid pressure was now relentless, and the inevitable second goal arrived through Mbappé, with the Frenchman expertly firing into the top corner after being picked out by Bellingham in the box.
Luka Modrić was introduced with a quarter-hour remaining and the Croat provided the necessary control to see out the victory for Los Blancos – a perfect start to the season as Ancelotti lifts the Super Cup for the fifth time as a coach – an all-time record.
