Mbappé scores twice to reach 31 goals for Madrid, bettering Ronaldo's debut season tally

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — After a slow start to his Real Madrid career, Kylian Mbappé has already surpassed one of the club greats.

Mbappé scored twice in Madrid's 2-1 comeback win over Villarreal on Saturday to take his tally to 31 goals in all competitions this season — one more than Brazil striker Ronaldo managed in his first campaign at the club. It also helped Madrid open up a three-point lead atop the Spanish league over Barcelona, which has played two games less.

Long gone are the scoring troubles Mbappé endured in his first months at Madrid.

Having surpassed Ronaldo's tally from 2002-03, the former Paris Saint-Germain player is now closing in on the 33 goals that Cristiano Ronaldo scored in his first season with Madrid in 2009-10.

“They are legends who marked eras with the club,” Mbappé said about the two Ronaldos. “If I score more goals than Ronaldo and Cristiano it doesn’t mean that I am better, just that my first season is better. Scoring goals is important, but it is even more so if we win La Liga, the Champions League and the Copa del Rey.”

His double at fifth-placed Villarreal took Mbappe’s La Liga tally to 20 goals, only one fewer than Barcelona’s Robert Lewandowski in the domestic competition.

Villarreal made it a pulsating game as it attacked in waves with Alex Baena and Nicolas Pepe helping create a series of chances. Thibaut Courtois made three good stops for Madrid to deny Pepe, Ayoze Pérez, and Pape Gueye in the first half.

But Villarreal paid at the other end where Mbappé ruthlessly exploited the holes in the Yellow Submarine’s defense.

“Mbappé didn’t participate much, but he was lethal,” Villarreal coach Marcelino Toral said.

A one-handed save by Courtois to deny Ayoze led to a corner kick that resulted in Villarreal’s eight-minute opener. Juan Foyth swept home a ball that fell to him inside the six-yard box after it had ricocheted off players in a packed area.

Mbappé leveled in the 17th after he teed up teammate Brahim Díaz for a shot that was saved by goalkeeper Diego Conde, and the ball fell to the France striker to rifle home.

Mbappé was on the scoreboard again in the 23rd when Villarreal’s defense lost track of him at the top of the area. He received a pass from Lucas Vázquez and had all the time he needed to place a shot into the right corner.

Halftime substitute Thierno Barry and Foyth both squandered scoring opportunities early in the second half before Madrid tightened its defense to see out the game.

Carlo Ancelotti left Vinícius Júnior and Antonio Rudiger on the bench until the final half hour – with Luka Modric going on shortly after – as the Madrid coach rotated his lineup three days after its grueling Champions League victory over Atletico Madrid that went to a penalty shootout.

“This was an important and difficult game against one of the best teams in the league,” Mbappé said. “After the game against Atletico and its added time it was very tough today but we knew we had to win. We showed character and that we wanted this win.”

Barcelona is three points behind Madrid ahead of its visit to third-placed Atletico Madrid, which is four points back, on Sunday. It also has a postponed game versus Osasuna still to be played.

Ancelotti said that Real Madrid was upset that the game in Villarreal wasn't pushed back as it had requested to give its players more rest. As a result the club said it won’t agree to play another game without 72 hours of rest between matches.

Madrid’s game at Villarreal game kicked off at 6:30 p.m. local time (1730 GMT) on Saturday. Madrid had played a Champions League game against Atletico Madrid on Wednesday that started at 9:00 p.m. and lasted 120 minutes plus a penalty shootout.

“This is the last time we will play within 72 hours,” Ancelotti said.

Vedat Muriqi made up for an own goal and a missed penalty kick by converting a stoppage-time penalty to complete Mallorca's 2-1 comeback win over Espanyol.

Espanyol goalkeeper Joan García delivered another top performance by saving two penalties.

García stopped Muriqi’s second-half penalty and appeared to have secured a point for the visitors when he also denied Abdon Prats in injury time, but the referee ordered the penalty to be retaken after an Espanyol player had entered the area ahead of time.

Muriqi, whose early own goal was canceled out by teammate Takuma Asano, stepped back up to the spot and redeemed himself by finally beating García with his team’s third attempt from the spot.

Also, former Chelsea defender Marcos Alonso converted a late penalty to give Celta Vigo a 1-0 win at last-place Valladolid, while Cristhian Stuani scored to salvage Girona a 1-1 draw at home with Valencia.

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Villarreal's manager Marcelino gestures during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Villarreal and Real Madrid in Villarreal, Spain, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

Real Madrid's Jude Bellingham and Villarreal's Juan Foyth, left, push each other during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Villarreal and Real Madrid in Villarreal, Spain, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior vies for the ball with Villarreal's Juan Foyth, left, during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Villarreal and Real Madrid in Villarreal, Spain, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe vies for the ball with Villarreal's Santi Comesana, right, during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Villarreal and Real Madrid in Villarreal, Spain, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe, left, attempts a shot at goal during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Villarreal and Real Madrid in Villarreal, Spain, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe celebrates with Jude Bellingham, left, after scoring his side's second goal during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Villarreal and Real Madrid in Villarreal, Spain, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

Villarreal's Juan Foyth, center, celebrates after scoring the opening goal during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Villarreal and Real Madrid in Villarreal, Spain, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

Villarreal's Juan Foyth, center, celebrates after scoring the opening goal during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Villarreal and Real Madrid in Villarreal, Spain, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Villarreal and Real Madrid in Villarreal, Spain, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Villarreal and Real Madrid in Villarreal, Spain, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Villarreal and Real Madrid in Villarreal, Spain, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia and Ukraine traded deadly strikes overnight and on Saturday morning, killing 10 people and wounding several dozen more, officials on both sides said Saturday.

The attacks came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy traveled to Istanbul for talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He will also meet with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of Eastern Orthodox Christians.

“We are working to strengthen our partnership to ensure the real protection of lives, advance stability, and guarantee security in Europe and the Middle East. Joint efforts always yield the best results,” Zelenskyy said in a post on the messaging app Telegram after arriving in Istanbul.

Russia fired 286 drones at Ukraine overnight, 260 of which were downed, the Ukrainian Air Force said in an online statement.

Five people — three women and two men — were killed in the city of Nikopol in the Dnipropetrovsk region, and 19 others were wounded, the head of the regional military administration Oleksandr Hanzha said. The attack damaged market stalls and a shop.

In the city of Sumy, not far from the border with Russia, a strike wounded 11 people, the National Police said. Residential areas were hit, and houses, cars and utility networks were damaged in the attack.

In the capital, Kyiv, a drone strike caused a fire on the first floor of a three-story office and warehouse building, Ukraine's State Emergency Service said. No casualties were reported.

In the partially occupied Donetsk region, a Russian drone strike hit a civilian car on the Kostyantynivka–Druzhkivka road on Saturday morning, killing one woman and wounding another, according to the head of the Kostyantynivka City Military Administration, Serhiy Horbunov.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed Saturday that its forces fired “long-range air- and ground-based precision weapons, as well as strike drones” at unspecified “military-industrial and energy facilities used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.”

Meanwhile, the Russian-installed head of the occupied Luhansk region, Leonid Pasechnik, said Ukrainian forces hit railroad infrastructure in the region and private houses, killing a family of three — a couple and their 8-year-old child.

The Security Service of Ukraine, also known as the SBU, claimed it used drone strikes to halt production at a metallurgical plant in the Russian-occupied city of Alchevsk in the Luhansk region, most of which is controlled by the Russian forces.

The SBU said on its Facebook page that drone strikes damaged blast furnaces, key production workshops, distillation columns, gas pipelines and electrical substations that power the plant, which supplies Russia’s state tank and railroad car plant, Uralvagonzavod.

There was no immediate comment from Russian officials.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that the Russian military overnight shot down 85 Ukrainian drones over nine Russian regions, the annexed Crimea region and the Black Sea.

In Russia's Rostov region, on the border with Ukraine, one person was killed and four sustained injuries, according to the region's governor, Yuri Slyusar. The attack sparked a fire at a warehouse facility of an unspecified logistics company, and another fire on a dry-cargo vessel flying a foreign flag several kilometers from the shore, Slyusar said.

In the Samara region's city of Tolyatti, one person was wounded, Gov. Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said. The roof of a residential building was damaged and windows were shattered in several apartments, he said.

In this image made from video provided by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Saturday, April 4, 2026, a Russian T-72B3M tank fires towards Ukrainian position. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Services on Saturday, April 4, 2026, rescue workers put out a fire of a residential building damaged following a Russian strike in Sumy, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Services on Saturday, April 4, 2026, rescue workers put out a fire of a residential building damaged following a Russian strike in Sumy, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Services on Saturday, April 4, 2026, rescue workers put out a fire of a residential building damaged following a Russian strike in Sumy, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Services on Saturday, April 4, 2026, rescue workers put out a fire of a residential building damaged following a Russian strike in Sumy, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Services on Saturday, April 4, 2026, rescue workers put out a fire of a residential building damaged following a Russian strike in Sumy, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)