Mbappe and Vinicius shine as Real Madrid crush Monaco in the Champions League

Kylian Mbappé struck twice while Vinícius Júnior delivered a commanding performance as Real Madrid dismantled Monaco 6-1 in their opening UEFA Champions League fixture under new head coach Álvaro Arbeloa.

The emphatic victory lifted Madrid to second place in the expanded 36-team league standings, strengthening their prospects of securing a favourable seeding in the last 16.

For Sébastien Pocognoli’s Monaco, however, the heavy defeat leaves them facing the real possibility of an early exit.

Mbappé wasted little time making his mark against his former club, opening the scoring inside five minutes. The French forward finished confidently into the bottom-left corner following sharp interplay involving Franco Mastantuono and Federico Valverde.

Monaco briefly threatened on the counter, with Ansu Fati, on loan from Barcelona, dragging a shot wide, but Madrid soon reasserted control.

Mbappé doubled his tally with a close-range finish after meeting Vinícius’ low cross, with Eduardo Camavinga’s clever flick key to the build-up.

Before the break, Monaco came close to pulling one back when Jordan Teze crashed a powerful effort against the crossbar. Any hopes of a comeback evaporated after half-time as Madrid took complete control.

Teenage sensation Mastantuono made it 3-0 with his first-ever Champions League goal, expertly turning and finishing across goalkeeper Philipp Köhn after a sublime pass from Vinícius. The Brazilian winger, who had faced criticism from sections of the home crowd in La Liga days earlier, was at the heart of everything Madrid produced.

Vinícius then forced an own goal when his left-wing delivery was inadvertently turned into the net by Thilo Kehrer, before finally getting on the scoresheet himself in the 63rd minute. Collecting Arda Güler’s pass, he surged into the box and unleashed a thunderous right-footed strike into the roof of the net.

Monaco managed a consolation goal when Teze capitalised on a costly error from substitute Dani Ceballos, but Madrid quickly restored their five-goal advantage. Jude Bellingham completed the scoring 10 minutes from time, calmly rounding Köhn to cap a dominant display.

The result underlined Real Madrid’s attacking depth and intent under Arbeloa, while Monaco were left with serious questions as their Champions League campaign got off to a damaging start.