The scars remain and there is much to be fixed still but this was a step towards reconciliation. It was something of a statement too, and not just in the goals scored but the reaction to them. Nine days after Xabi Alonso’s sacking, six after their captain said they had hit rock bottom with Copa del Rey elimination and three after the protest of a generation, white hankies and whistles greeting the players and even the president, there were songs and support at last as Real Madrid defeated Monaco 6-1.
Kylian Mbappé, Franco Mastantuono and Jude Bellingham all scored, while there was an own goal from Monaco’s Thilo Kehrer. More significantly still, the man who had been at the centre of the storm made three of the six goals and smashed in a superb strike of his own. And if Vinícius Júnior, who had stood accused before the game and stood with the MVP trophy at the end of it, wasn’t entirely ready to share his moment with fans yet, his first goal here since October saw teammates come to his side. He then hugged his new coach, Álvaro Arbeloa, who claimed that was the embrace of the whole of Madrid.
Celebrations from his teammates were more demonstrative, speaking to what they had been through. Mbappé had marked the first of his two by asking for forgiveness, while Bellingham stepped round the keeper to add the sixth and celebrated with a drinking gesture following rumours of his supposed off-field habits and his part in Alonso’s fall. He had already called those “a load of shit” and, smiling now, his on-pitch response was even more pointed, and done from a position of power, at the end of an impressive performance.
