Xabi Alonso’s reign as Real Madrid boss in the Spanish top-flight began with a narrow 1-0 win over Osasuna, and he will have been confident of making it two wins from two at newly-promoted Oviedo.
In a surprise call, Vinicius Junior was named on the bench, and his replacement Rodrygo was the first to force visiting goalkeeper Aaron Escandell into a save early on.
That was one of the few clear-cut opportunities Los Blancos created in the opening exchanges, with Rodrygo’s effort the only time Escandell was tested in the first 30 minutes, with Franco Mastantuono firing over.
In a rare foray forward for Oviedo, Leander Dendoncker tried to catch out Thibaut Courtois with a cheeky lob, and while his attempt was easily saved, it was a warning sign to Madrid that they could not afford to get complacent.
Despite their lack of efforts on target, the visitors showed they need just one moment of quality to make opponents pay. On this occasion, Kylian Mbappe was the man to take on that responsibility, producing a fantastic turn and finish from Arda Güler’s pass as half-time approached.
After the interval, there was still a lack of goalmouth action, but instead of Los Blancos dominating possession, the home team had their fair share too.
Still, Federico Valverde really should have given Madrid more breathing space, yet he could only poke wide following a rare fluid attack.
At the other end, Oviedo were unable to get near Courtois’ goal regularly, with the Belgian rarely troubled besides a Kwasi Sibo shot from distance.
Ultimately, it was another Mbappé intervention that secured the points. As soon as Vinicius squared to the France international in the penalty area, there was only going to be one outcome, and Escandell could only watch on during the ball’s journey into the bottom corner.
That strike took the remaining wind out of Oviedo’s sails, and only a strong stop from the Azules’ goalkeeper prevented an Mbappe hat-trick.
At the death, Vinicius added extra gloss to the scoreline with a typically calm finish from Brahim Diaz’s pass.
Although Alonso and his squad are still getting used to each other, they have managed to pick up successive wins in LaLiga without conceding.
Oviedo, meanwhile, are still waiting for their first goal of the 2025/26 league campaign, but there were positives head coach Veljko Paunović can take from the clash as he aims to keep them amongst the elite beyond this term.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Kylian Mbappe (Real Madrid)