Rodrygo hit a brace to give Real Madrid a 2-1 victory over Sevilla in La Liga on Saturday to put his side four points clear of third-place rivals Atletico Madrid. Madrid were without injured winger Vinicius Junior, who received worldwide support during the week after being racially abused by Valencia fans over the weekend. Carlo Ancelotti’s team also missed the injured duo of Karim Benzema and Marco Asensio in the attack.
Rodrygo was Madrid’s only fit regular striker. After Rafa Mir gave the Europa League finalists the lead against Roma on Wednesday, Rodrygo capitalized on his chance with two goals, the first from a free kick.
“It’s hard to choose. They were both nice goals, maybe the second one a bit more, but scoring from a free kick is always special,” Rodrygo told DAZN.
“We always practice them and talk about them beforehand. Whoever has the most confidence takes it and I took the ball.”
Ancelotti defeated Rodrygo with 10 minutes remaining.
“I was a bit annoyed with him because I wanted to score another one, a hat-trick, but it’s okay, he told me we were going to win this way,” said Rodrygo.
Sevilla coach Jose Luis Mendilibar switched many of his usual starting line-ups in a rain-soaked Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan stadium to prepare for the final against Jose Mourinho’s side.
Mir hit a rebound into the roof of the net to send Sevilla ahead in the third minute after Bryan Gil’s shot was blocked.
Rodrygo should have equalized, but shot wide when he was well placed after a good build-up from Dani Ceballos and Lucas Vazquez.
The Brazilian, however, quickly leveled Real Madrid from a free-kick, curling his effort past the wall and into the bottom corner and wrong-footing goalkeeper Yassine Bounou.
Mir came close again early in the second half with an effort that narrowly whistled over before Rodrygo pounced on his second goal.
Released by Toni Kroos, the Brazilian striker sent Sevilla defender Gonzalo Montiel one way and then the other, before slipping home past Bounou.
It was the Brazilian’s ninth league goal of the season, a campaign in which he has slowly become one of Ancelotti’s most reliable players.
“Rodrygo stood out as a centre-forward, he can play there,” Ancelotti told reporters.
“He has other characteristics, but with his dribbles around the box it is easier to score there than next to it.”
– Heated –
Marcos Acuna was sent to Sevilla in the closing stages for an ugly tackle on Ceballos, leaving his side with little chance of a comeback.
The red card heated up a previously uneventful game and the players rowed a few times during nine minutes of stoppage time, but Los Blancos eventually sealed their win.
Madrid’s last away game was the encounter with Valencia at Mestalla, where Vinicius was racially abused.
Ancelotti praised Sevilla fans after the match passed without incident.
“The atmosphere has changed. Today was a good sign,” said Ancelotti.
“People are starting to understand what you can do in a stadium and what you can’t. We have to keep going.”
Real Madrid won the Copa del Rey earlier in May, but their campaign soured after Manchester City knocked them out of the Champions League, while Barcelona won La Liga for the first time since 2019.
However, the win should help Real finish above city rivals Atletico, which host Real Sociedad on Sunday.
Sevilla started the season disastrously, but after sacking coach Julen Lopetegui and then Jorge Sampaoli, Mendilibar has stabilized the ship.
The Spaniard has sent Sevilla into 10th place, away from the relegation battle and into the Europa League final.
“We are a family, we showed it, we had some very bad moments, but the last quarter of the season was spectacular,” Mir told DAZN.
“Now that we have the prize from the final, we want to come back here with the cup.”
(This story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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