Kylian Mbappe on Wednesday scored a goal and raised a trophy on debut for Real Madrid.
The France captain pulled on the white jersey of the Spanish champions for the first time in a competitive match and marked the occasion with the second goal in their 2-0 win over Atalanta BC in the UEFA Super Cup.
Mbappe, who started and played 82 minutes at the National Stadium in Warsaw, met a pass from Jude Bellingham across the area with a shot into the top corner in the 68th minute.
Photo: EPA-EFE
After putting both arms across his chest in celebration, he was congratulated by Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo, the other members of Madrid’s star-studded strike force that might be sending tremors across European soccer heading into the new season.
Federico Valverde tapped home a cross from Vinicius in the 59th minute to set Madrid on their way to a record sixth victory in the Super Cup, the annual match between the UEFA Champions League winners (Madrid) and the UEFA Europa League champions (Atalanta).
Madrid are used to records — no team has more UEFA European Cup titles than their 15 — and owning the world’s best players.
Photo: Reuters
Mbappe certainly belongs in that category and it was a strong start to life at the world’s top soccer club, one he dreamed of playing for as a child.
Now he is Madrid’s No. 9, starting the Super Cup as the team’s central striker — to limited success — before moving out wide for the second half.
However, Vinicius and Bellingham, stars of Madrid’s runs to the Champions League and La Liga titles last season, were the game’s standout players as Carlo Ancelotti’s team eventually overpowered Atalanta after an even first half that saw both sides hit the crossbar.
Madrid defender Eder Militao deflected a cross onto his own bar, before Rodrygo fired in a shot just before halftime that struck the top of the bar.
Mbappe wowed the crowd with a couple of tricks and spins, but did not make too much of an impact in the first half.
Marloon Herrera was crying — happy tears. With Cuba trailing in the fifth inning of its Little League World Series (LLWS) opener on Thursday, Herrera lined a two-run double to give his team the lead. When the Czech Republic, representing Europe-Africa, made a pitching change, he ran over to give his third base coach a hug. Cuba went on to win 4-1. It was the first game at this year’s tournament for both sides, but it was also the beginning of Cuba’s second appearance in the series ever — and it was emotional. “You breathe baseball in Cuba,” manager Everaldo Machado said on
Taiwan on Friday beat Australia 11-0 at the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Taiwan are represented at the tournament by Taoyuan’s Gueishan Elementary School, who won the Asia-Pacific regional tournament to earn the trip to the US. Australia are represented by the Hills Red team from Sydney. Taiwan advanced to a game tomorrow against Santa Clara, representing Cuba, who won 4-1 against the Czech Republic’s Brno, the Europe-Africa regional qualifiers. Australian starter Sayre Howick had a tough time controlling his pitches at Volunteer Stadium, one of which allowed Taiwan to open their account. They scored six in the inning and
World Boxing, an international amateur boxing organization formed last year after a breakdown in relations between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Boxing Association (IBA), has announced the admission of Taiwan, along with four other nations, into its growing list of members. In a statement released on its Web site on Friday, the Swiss- based organization said that in addition to Taiwan, admitted as Chinese Taipei, Bhutan, Ecuador, Fiji and Pakistan have also become members. The new members all have well-rounded national and international boxing programs as well as transparency in the leadership and management of their national boxing programs,
COOLED DOWN: Du Plessis apologized after the fight for comments about his Nigerian-born opponent, after Adesanya said he planned to take the belt back to Africa South African Dricus du Plessis yesterday took a flurry of body hits across four rounds before defeating Israel Adesanya by submission to retain his middleweight championship at UFC 305. After scoring some early takedowns, Du Plessis (22-2) had to withstand a flurry of body strikes from Adesanya through the middle rounds, which appeared to be taking a toll on the 30-year-old South African as the fight progressed. However, a left hook followed by three rights helped bring Adesanya down, giving Du Plessis the opening he wanted as he swiftly got the choke hold that forced the Nigerian-born New Zealander to tap out