On the morning of January 20th, Beijing time, a match in the 20th round of La Liga saw Real Madrid host Las Palmas. Kylian Mbappe scored twice, Rodrigo provided an assist and scored, and Diaz found the net as well. Real Madrid fought back from behind to take the lead, with the Bernabeu stadium erupting in celebration. They ultimately overcame Las Palmas 4-1, surpassing Atletico Madrid by two points to reclaim the top spot.
This was Real Madrid's first La Liga appearance in half a month, having played two Supercopa de Espana and two Copa del Rey matches in their last four games. The 2-5 defeat to Barcelona in the Supercopa final dealt a significant blow to the team.
The first half of the La Liga season has concluded, with Atletico Madrid securing the mid-season championship. Real Madrid trailed by one point but led third-placed Barcelona by five points, making Atletico their main opponent for the title defense.
Before this match, Atletico suffered a surprising 0-1 loss to Leganes, while Barcelona drew 1-1 with Getafe. This presented a golden opportunity for Ancelotti's team, as they only needed to avoid defeat against Las Palmas to climb to the top.
Less than a minute into the game, Real Madrid's defense was breached:
Just 27 seconds into the game, Sandro Ramirez crossed to the goalmouth, where Fabio Silva poked it in to give Las Palmas a 1-0 lead.
According to statistics, this is the earliest goal conceded by Real Madrid in La Liga since September 24, 2011, when they were scored against 14 seconds into a match against Rayo Vallecano.
Trailing by one goal at home, the attacking group led by Mbappe staged a remarkable comeback.
In the 18th minute, Rodrigo won a penalty, which Mbappe converted to level the score at 1-1 for Real Madrid.
In the 33rd minute, Vazquez assisted Diaz to poke the ball into the net, helping Real Madrid take a 2-1 lead.
In the 36th minute, Rodrigo provided another assist, and Mbappe scored again to complete his double, extending Real Madrid's advantage to 3-1.
Mbappe, who scored twice in just 18 minutes, has now netted 12 goals in La Liga this season, second only to Robert Lewandowski's 16 goals on the scoring charts. In fact, Mbappe almost completed a hat-trick in the first half, but his 41st-minute goal was ruled out for offside.
Furthermore, Mbappe has scored 301 goals across all club competitions, with 256 for Paris Saint-Germain, 27 for Monaco, and 18 for Real Madrid. At the age of 26 years and 30 days, he became the second-youngest player in the 21st century to reach 300 club career goals, trailing only Lionel Messi.
In the 57th minute, Rodrigo scored with a push shot to complete his assist and goal, helping Real Madrid maintain a 4-1 lead.
In the 73rd minute, Real Madrid's free-kick resulted in Bellingham scoring with a scissor kick, but the goal was disallowed.
In the 86th minute, Valverde unleashed a world-class shot, but the goal was ruled out due to Vazquez's prior offside position.
Throughout the game, Real Madrid had three goals disallowed, but they still managed to overturn Las Palmas 4-1. They have remained unbeaten in six consecutive league matches. Crucially, Real Madrid's points tally reached 46, overtaking Atletico Madrid's 44 points to rise to the top of the standings, while also widening the gap to third-placed Barcelona to seven points.