SPANISH CHAMPIONS REAL Madrid earned a 3-0 win over Real Valladolid in La Liga on Sunday as Kylian Mbappe made his Santiago Bernabeu bow without finding the net.

The French striker played at home for the first time in a Madrid shirt but was largely frustrated by Valladolid’s defence.

Madrid midfielder Fede Valverde opened the scoring with a low deflected free-kick after 50 minutes and substitutes Brahim Diaz and debutant Endrick struck late on.

Still lacking fluency in attack, Carlo Ancelotti’s side stayed two points behind rivals Barcelona, who beat Athletic Bilbao on Saturday.

In Germany, Harry Kane helped drag Bayern Munich to a come-from-behind 3-2 win at Wolfsburg in manager Vincent Kompany’s Bundesliga debut.

Jamal Musiala put Bayern 1-0 up after 19 minutes but Wolfsburg took the lead with two Lovro Majer goals in the first 10 minutes of the second half.

Bayern were nervy, with Ralph Hasenhuettl’s side pouncing on several defensive errors.

A Kane header forced Wolfsburg’s Jakub Kaminski into an own goal after 65 minutes and the England captain set up Bayern’s third, laying on a pass for Serge Gnabry’s 82nd-minute strike.

“It’s not perfect yet”, Kane told Bayern TV after the match, saying his side “got punished a little” in the second half.

“We’re still obviously implementing some of the ideas of the coach.

“Obviously, the team is a lot stronger than this. I’m happy we’ve got a good week to work now, to get to work on the ideas the coach wants.”

In Sunday’s later game, Heidenheim won 2-0 at promoted St Pauli thanks to second-half goals from Paul Wanner and Jan Schoeppner.

Heidenheim, who were promoted to the top division for the first time two seasons ago, have a 2-1 lead in their Europa Conference League tie with Swedish side Hacken, with the second leg to be played at home on Thursday.

Cult club St Pauli returned to the Bundesliga this season for the first time since 2011.

– © AFP 2024