Kylian Mbappé scores 2 goals as Real Madrid wins 3-0 at Athletic Bilbao

MADRID (AP) — Kylian Mbappé scored twice and had an assist as Real Madrid beat Athletic Bilbao 3-0 to end a three-match winless streak in the Spanish league on Wednesday.

Eduardo Camavinga also found the net for Madrid as it moved back within one point of Barcelona, which beat Atletico Madrid 3-1 on Tuesday.

Both 19th-round matches were moved forward because Madrid, Barcelona, Athletic and Atletico will be playing in the Spanish Super Cup in January in Saudi Arabia.

Madrid was coming off league draws at Girona, Elche and Rayo Vallecano. It was Madrid's second win in its last six matches in all competitions.

“It was important, after three away draws, to get back to winning on the road,” Madrid coach Xabi Alonso said. "The team came out to play and win the match from the first minute, with good focus, intensity and rhythm. It was probably our best match this season.”

Mbappé has scored seven goals in his last three matches in all competitions. He had scored once against Girona, and netted four times at Olympiakos in a 4-3 Champions League win. The France star has 30 goals in 24 appearances between club and country this season and is the leading scorer in both the Spanish league (16 goals) and the Champions League (nine goals).

“Kylian is going through a great moment,” Alonso said. “He scored two great goals and moved well. His connection with Vini (Vinícius Júnior) was very nice."

Mbappé scored his first goal Wednesday in a breakaway in the seventh minute, picking up the ball near midfield and clearing a couple of defenders during his run before finding the net from the edge of the area.

Camavinga added to the lead with a header from close range in the 42nd after an assist by Mbappé, and the France international got his second goal with a nice shot from nearly 30 meters out in the 59th.

“At times I think to myself, 'How lucky I am to have him on my team and not have to face him, except maybe against France,” said Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, a Belgian international. "He’s unstoppable, we really enjoy watching him play.”

Camavinga had to be replaced in the 69th with an apparent injury. Madrid also lost Trent Alexander-Arnold because of an injury in the 55th.

Athletic, sitting in eighth place, has only two wins in its last eight matches.

Madrid hosts Celta Vigo on Sunday in its return to the Santiago Bernabeu stadium. Athletic hosts fourth-place Atletico on Saturday.

In the second round of the Copa del Rey, top-flight Girona was eliminated by third-division club Ourense 2-1, while Villarreal edged fourth-division team Antoniano on penalties. Elche needed extra time to get past fourth-tier club Quintanar del Rey. All other first-division teams playing on Wednesday advanced.

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Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe celebrates after scoring his side's third goal during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Athletic Bilbao and Real Madrid in Bilbao, Spain, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Breton)

Real Madrid's Trent Alexander-Arnold, centre, walks off after being injured during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Athletic Bilbao and Real Madrid in Bilbao, Spain, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Breton)

Real Madrid's Eduardo Camavinga scores his side's second goal during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Athletic Bilbao and Real Madrid in Bilbao, Spain, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Breton)

Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe, left, challenges for the ball with Athletic Bilbao's Adama Boiro during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Athletic Bilbao and Real Madrid in Bilbao, Spain, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Breton)

Real Madrid's Eduardo Camavinga, right, celebrates with Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe after scoring his side's second goal during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Athletic Bilbao and Real Madrid in Bilbao, Spain, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Breton)

Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe celebrates after scoring his side's third goal during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Athletic Bilbao and Real Madrid in Bilbao, Spain, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Breton)

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — More than 200 years after being sunk by Adm. Horatio Nelson and the British fleet, a Danish warship has been discovered on the seabed of Copenhagen Harbor by marine archaeologists.

Working in thick sediment and almost zero visibility 15 meters (49 feet) beneath the waves, divers are working against the clock to unearth the 19th-century wreck of the Dannebroge before it becomes a construction site in a new housing district being built off the Danish coast.

Denmark’s Viking Ship Museum, which is leading the monthslong underwater excavations, announced its findings on Thursday, 225 years to the day since the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801.

“It’s a big part of the Danish national feeling,” said Morten Johansen, the museum’s head of maritime archaeology.

A great deal has been written about the battle “by very enthusiastic spectators, but we actually don’t know how it was to be onboard a ship being shot to pieces by English warships and some of that story we can probably learn from seeing the wreck, Johansen said.

In the Battle of Copenhagen, Nelson and the British fleet attacked and defeated Denmark’s navy as it formed a protective blockade outside the harbor.

Thousands were killed and wounded during the brutal hourslong naval clash, considered one of Nelson’s “great battles.” The intention was to force Denmark out of an alliance of Northern European powers, including Russia, Prussia and Sweden.

At the center of the fighting was the Danish flagship, the Dannebroge, commanded by Commodore Olfert Fischer.

The 48-meter (157-foot) Dannebroge was Nelson’s main target. Cannon fire tore through its upper deck before incendiary shells sparked a fire aboard.

“(It was) a nightmare to be on board one of these ships,” Johansen said. “When a cannonball hits a ship, it’s not the cannonball that does the most damage to the crew, it’s wooden splinters flying everywhere, very much like grenade debris.”

The battle also is believed to have inspired the phrase “to turn a blind eye.” After deciding to ignore a superior’s signal, Nelson, who had lost sight in his right eye, reportedly remarked: “I have only one eye, I have a right to be blind sometimes.”

Nelson eventually offered a truce and a ceasefire was later agreed with Denmark’s Crown Prince Frederik.

The stricken Dannebroge slowly drifted northward and exploded. Records say the sound created a deafening roar across Copenhagen.

Marine archaeologists have discovered two cannons, uniforms, insignia, shoes, bottles and even part of a sailor’s lower jaw, perhaps one of the 19 unaccounted-for crew members who likely lost their lives that day.

The dig site will soon be enveloped by construction work for Lynetteholm, a megaproject to build a new housing district in the middle of Copenhagen Harbor that is expected to be completed by 2070.

Marine archaeologists began surveying the area late last year, targeting a spot thought to match the flagship’s final position.

Experts say the sizes of the wooden parts found match old drawings. Dendrochronological dating, the method of using tree rings to establish the age of wood, match the year the ship was built. They also say the darkened dig site is full of cannonballs, a hazard for divers navigating waters darkened by clouds of silt stirred up from the seabed.

“Sometimes you can’t see anything, and then you really have to just feel your way, look with your fingers instead of with your eyes,” diver and maritime archaeologist Marie Jonsson said.

Chronicled in books and painted on canvases, the 1801 battle is deeply embedded in Denmark’s national story.

Archaeologists hope their discoveries may help reexamine the event that shaped the Scandinavian country and perhaps uncover personal stories of those who went into battle on that day 225 years ago.

“There are bottles, there are ceramics, and even pieces of basketry,” Jonsson said. “You get closer to the people onboard.”

Morten Johansen, head of maritime archaeology at Denmark's Viking Ship Museum, shows part of a human lower jawbone recovered from the wreck of Danish flagship "Dannebroge" that sank during the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801, in Copenhagen, Denmark, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/James Brooks)

Archaeologists sail with boat through the harbor in Copenhagen, Denmark, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/James Brooks)

An archaeologist points to a computer screen, showing a map of the wreck of Danish flagship "Dannebroge" that sank during the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801. in Copenhagen, Denmark, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/James Brooks)

Morten Johansen, head of maritime archaeology at Denmark's Viking Ship Museum, shows a metal insignia recovered from the wreck of Danish flagship "Dannebroge" that sank during the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801, in Copenhagen, Denmark, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/James Brooks)

Morten Johansen, head of maritime archaeology at Denmark's Viking Ship Museum, shows a metal insignia recovered from the wreck of Danish flagship "Dannebroge" that sank during the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801, in Copenhagen, Denmark, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/James Brooks)