MADRID (AP) — Kylian Mbappé scored in his return from injury on Sunday, leading Real Madrid to a 2-1 win at Alaves in the Spanish league to relieve some of the pressure on coach Xabi Alonso.
Rodrygo also scored as Madrid moved back within four points of leader Barcelona, which beat Osasuna 2-0 on Saturday.
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Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Alaves and Real Madrid in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Miguel Oses)
Real Madrid's goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, left, watches as players challenge for the ball during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Alaves and Real Madrid in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Miguel Oses)
Real Madrid's head coach Xabi Alonso waits for the start of the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Alaves and Real Madrid in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Miguel Oses)
Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe, left, celebrates with Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior after scoring the opening goal during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Alaves and Real Madrid in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Miguel Oses)
Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Alaves and Real Madrid in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Miguel Oses)
Madrid had won only two of its last eight games in all competitions and was coming off a 2-1 home loss to Manchester City in the Champions League, prompting jeers from fans at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.
“We are together in this, we keep fighting in the good and the bad moments,” Alonso said. “The team competed well today. We started well and came away with the three points. It's fundamental to be united, it's the only way to remain solid and improve day-to-day.”
Mbappé, who missed Madrid's match against City on Wednesday because of a minor injury, scored his 26th goal of the season for Madrid in all competitions after a good run on the left, passing a defender before firing into the top corner from just inside the area in the 24th minute.
Alaves equalized through Carlos Vicente in a 68th-minute breakaway, but Rodrygo put the visitors ahead again from close range after a run and assist by Vinícius Júnior.
It was Rodrygo’s second goal of the season. He had scored for Madrid against City to end a nine-month scoring drought with the club.
Vinícius Júnior hugged Alonso after the goal in a rare show of public support by the Brazilian toward the former Madrid player. The gesture came after media reports said the coach had lost the locker room.
Alaves, which stayed in 12th place, was coming off a win against Sociedad.
Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois earned his 200th victory in 310 appearances with Madrid since he arrived in 2018. Defender Antonio Rüdiger played in his 100th Spanish league match with the club.
Alonso used 19-year-old Víctor Valdepeñas, from Madrid's “B” team, in the left back position because of injuries to the regular starters.
Second-to-last Oviedo fired coach Luis Carrión after a 4-0 loss at Sevilla.
The result extended Oviedo's winless streak to 10 matches in all competitions. Oviedo hasn't won since a 2-1 victory at Valencia in the Spanish league in September.
Carrión leaves with Oviedo on 10 points from 16 matches.
Sevilla moved to ninth place with 20 points.
Celta Vigo won its first home game of the season in the league by beating seventh-placed Athletic Bilbao 2-0.
The result moved the Vigo club to eighth place, one point behind Athletic.
Nico Williams missed a late penalty kick for Athletic.
The game between Levante and Villarreal originally scheduled for Sunday was postponed because of heavy rain in the Valencia region. The league said it made the decision after safety recommendations made by local authorities amid a weather alert issued in the region.
Villarreal was in third place and has won six in a row in the league. Levante was last and has lost five straight league matches.
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Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Alaves and Real Madrid in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Miguel Oses)
Real Madrid's goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, left, watches as players challenge for the ball during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Alaves and Real Madrid in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Miguel Oses)
Real Madrid's head coach Xabi Alonso waits for the start of the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Alaves and Real Madrid in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Miguel Oses)
Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe, left, celebrates with Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior after scoring the opening goal during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Alaves and Real Madrid in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Miguel Oses)
Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Alaves and Real Madrid in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Miguel Oses)
SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Ultra-conservative José Antonio Kast secured a thumping victory in Chile’s presidential runoff election Sunday, defeating the candidate of the leftist governing coalition and setting the stage for the country’s most right-wing government in 35 years of democracy.
With over 95% of the vote counted, Kast won more than 58% of the votes as Chilean voters overwhelmingly embraced his pledge to crack down on increased crime, deport hundreds of thousands of immigrants without legal status and revive the sluggish economy of one of Latin America’s most stable and prosperous nations.
His challenger, communist candidate Jeannette Jara who served as leftist President Gabriel Boric’s popular labor minister, had just over 41% support.
“Democracy spoke loud and clear,” Jara wrote on social media, saying that she called Kast to concede defeat and congratulate him on his successful campaign.
Kast’s supporters erupted into cheers in the street, shouting his name and honking car horns.
His campaign spokesman, Arturo Squella, declared victory from the party headquarters in Chile's capital of Santiago.
“We are very proud of the work we’ve done,” he told reporters. “We feel very responsible for this tremendous challenge of taking charge of the crises that Chile is going through.”
Kast’s election represents the latest in a string of votes that have turfed out incumbent governments across Latin America, vaulting mainly right-wing leaders to power from Argentina to Bolivia.
On the surface, the two candidates in this tense presidential runoff could not have been more different, fundamentally disagreeing on weighty matters of the economy, social issues and the very purpose of government.
A lifelong member of Chile’s Communist Party who pioneered significant social welfare measures in Boric’s government and hails from a working-class family that protested against the 1973-1990 military dictatorship, Jara was a dramatic foil to her rival.
Kast, in contrast, is a devout Catholic and father of nine whose German-born father was a registered member of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi party and whose brother served in the dictatorship. He had previously struggled to win over moderate voters in two failed presidential bids.
His moral conservatism, including fierce opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion without exception, had been rejected by many in the increasingly socially liberal country. The admiration he has expressed for the bloody military dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet also sparked widespread condemnation in his campaign against President Boric four years ago.
But in the past few years, fears about uncontrolled migration and organized crime have roiled the country. Enthusiasm for a hardline approach to crime spread, dominating the election and boosting Kast's law-and-order platform.
Presidential candidate Jeannette Jara, of the ruling Unity for Chile coalition, addresses supporters after conceding to Jose Antonio Kast, of the opposition Republican Party, in the presidential runoff election in Santiago, Chile, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
Supporters hold a portrait of Jose Antonio Kast, presidential candidate of the opposition Republican Party, after results show hime leading in the presidential runoff election in Santiago, Chile, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025.(AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Supporters of Jose Antonio Kast, presidential candidate of the opposition Republican Party, celebrate preliminary results after polls closed for a presidential runoff election in Santiago, Chile, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)
Supporters react to early results at the campaign headquarters of Jeannette Jara, presidential candidate of the ruling Unity for Chile coalition, in Santiago, Chile, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
Jeannette Jara, presidential candidate of the ruling Unity for Chile coalition, speaks after voting during the presidential runoff election in Santiago, Chile, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
Supporters of Jose Antonio Kast, presidential candidate of the opposition Republican Party, celebrate preliminary results after polls closed for a presidential runoff election in Santiago, Chile, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)
Jose Antonio Kast, presidential candidate for the Republican Party, waves after voting in the presidential runoff election in Santiago, Chile, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)
Voters arrive to a polling stating during the presidential runoff election in Santiago, Chile, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Jeannette Jara, presidential candidate of the ruling Unity for Chile coalition, shows her ballot during the presidential runoff election in Santiago, Chile, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
Jose Antonio Kast, presidential candidate for the Republican Party, prepares to vote during the presidential runoff election in Santiago, Chile, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Jose Antonio Kast, presidential candidate for the Republican Party, arrives to vote during the presidential runoff election in Santiago, Chile, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
A voter casts his ballot during the presidential runoff election in Santiago, Chile, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)
Luis Soto prepares to vote in the presidential runoff election in Santiago, Chile, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
Richard Ferreira, a Venezuelan residing in Chile, waits for polls to open during the presidential runoff election in Santiago, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
Police guard the Mapocho station polling station during the presidential runoff election in Santiago, Chile, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
Presidential candidate Jeannette Jara of the Unidad por Chile coalition addresses supporters during a rally ahead of the presidential runoff election in Santiago, Chile, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
A man cycles past campaign ads for presidential candidate Jose Antonio Kast and Argentina's President Javier Milei reading in Spanish "Our future is in danger" ahead of the presidential runoff election in Santiago, Chile, Friday, Dec. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
Presidential candidate Jose Antonio Kast of the Republican Party addresses supporters, from behind a protective glass panel, during a rally ahead of the runoff election in Temuco, Chile, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)
A campaign banner reads in Spanish "Neither Jara nor Kast will make our lives better, don't vote, rebel and fight" ahead of the presidential runoff election in Santiago, Chile, Friday, Dec. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
Presidential candidates Jose Antonio Kast of the Republican Party and Jeannette Jara of the Unity for Chile coalition shake hands during a debate ahead of runoff elections in Santiago, Chile, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)
