MADRID (AP) — Kylian Mbappé struck again as Real Madrid beat Valencia 2-0 on Sunday to win its seventh game in a row in the Spanish league and move back within a point of leader Barcelona.
Mbappé scored from close range early in second-half stoppage time for his ninth goal in six games to seal Madrid's win. Álvaro Carreras had put Madrid ahead in the 65th with his second goal with the club.
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Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe, centre, and Valencia's Eray Comert challenge for the ball during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Valencia and Real Madrid in Valencia, Spain, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Macia)
Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe, right, and Valencia's Eray Comert challenge for the ball during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Valencia and Real Madrid in Valencia, Spain, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Macia)
Real Madrid's Alvaro Carreras, left, celebrates with Dean Huijsen, centre and Kylian Mbappe after scoring the opening goal during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Valencia and Real Madrid in Valencia, Spain, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Macia)
Real Madrid's Alvaro Carreras celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Valencia and Real Madrid in Valencia, Spain, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Macia)
Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe reacts during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Valencia and Real Madrid in Valencia, Spain, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Macia)
“We’re running out of superlatives to describe Kylian,” Madrid coach Álvaro Arbeloa said.
Madrid was playing without Vinícius Júnior (yellow card suspension) and Jude Bellingham (left hamstring injury).
“We controlled the game well, (goalkeeper Thibaut) Courtois didn’t have to make any saves, and it was a solid performance from the players,” Arbeloa said.
Madrid's last defeat in the league was in December at home to Celta Vigo.
Barcelona defeated Mallorca 3-0 at home on Saturday for its 17th win in its last 18 games in all competitions.
Valencia fans jeered the team after the final whistle. It's in 17th place, just outside the relegation zone.
Fifth-place Real Betis won 1-0 at third-place Atletico Madrid in a game played three days after it was routed 5-0 by Atletico at home in the quarterfinals of the Copa del Rey.
Antony netted Betis' winner on Sunday to give the team its second straight league win. Diego Simeone's Atletico has won only one of its last three matches in all competitions.
Sevilla and Girona drew 1-1 in a game that was moved to Sunday because of bad weather, with Girona striker Cristhian Stuani entering the match just to take a late penalty kick and failing to convert it.
The match was scheduled to be played on Saturday but the league put it back a day because of a severe storm alert in the southern city of Seville.
Girona took the lead two minutes into the match with Thomas Lemar's goal. The hosts eventually equalized with a long-range shot into the top corner by Kike Salas two minutes into stoppage time.
Six minutes later Girona missed a chance to get back in front when Stuani was denied from the penalty spot.
Girona coach Míchel put Stuani into the match to take the penalty after it was awarded, and the veteran Uruguayan sent a low shot that was saved by Sevilla goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos.
“If I have to take a chance on someone taking a penalty, it will always be Stuani,” Míchel said.
Spanish media said Stuani hadn't failed with a penalty kick in a league game in three years.
The result left Girona in 12th place, one point ahead of 13th-place Sevilla. Girona is winless in three straight league matches.
Rayo Vallecano’s home match against Oviedo on Saturday was postponed on short notice because of safety concerns over the field at Vallecas Stadium.
Athletic Bilbao beat 10-man Levante 4-2 in a match with four goals scored after the 80th minute.
Athletic had a two-goal lead at halftime but Levante pulled closer in the 81st before the hosts made it 3-1 in the 86th. Levante scored again four minutes into stoppage time, and Athletic extended the lead in the ninth minute of added time.
Levante, second-to-last in the standings, played a man down from the 17th as Alan Matturro was sent off with a straight red card.
Athletic, in 10th place, hadn't won in six straight league games with its last victory over Atletico Madrid in December.
Getafe, in 11th, ended a nine-game winless streak across all competitions by winning 2-0 at 14th-place Alaves.
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Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe, centre, and Valencia's Eray Comert challenge for the ball during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Valencia and Real Madrid in Valencia, Spain, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Macia)
Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe, right, and Valencia's Eray Comert challenge for the ball during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Valencia and Real Madrid in Valencia, Spain, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Macia)
Real Madrid's Alvaro Carreras, left, celebrates with Dean Huijsen, centre and Kylian Mbappe after scoring the opening goal during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Valencia and Real Madrid in Valencia, Spain, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Macia)
Real Madrid's Alvaro Carreras celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Valencia and Real Madrid in Valencia, Spain, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Macia)
Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe reacts during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Valencia and Real Madrid in Valencia, Spain, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Macia)
TOKYO (AP) — The governing party of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi secured a two-thirds supermajority in a key parliamentary election Sunday, Japanese media reported citing preliminary results, earning a landslide victory thanks to her popularity.
Takaichi, in a televised interview with public television network NHK following her sweeping victory, said she is now ready to pursue policies to make Japan strong and prosperous.
NHK, citing results of vote counts, said Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party, or LDP, alone secured 316 seats by early Monday, comfortably surpassing a 261-seat absolute majority in the 465-member lower house, the more powerful of Japan's two-chamber parliament. That marks a record since the party's foundation in 1955 and surpasses the previous record of 300 seats won in 1986 by late Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone.
With 36 seats won by its new ally, Japan Innovation Party, Takaichi's ruling coalition has won 352 seats.
A smiling Takaichi placed a big red ribbon above each winner’s name on a signboard at the LDP's headquarters, as accompanying party executives applauded.
Despite the lack of a majority in the other chamber, the upper house, the huge jump from the preelection share in the superior lower house would allow Takaichi to make progress on a right-wing agenda that aims to boost Japan’s economy and military capabilities as tensions grow with China and she tries to nurture ties with the United States.
Takaichi said she would try to gain support from the opposition while firmly pushing forward her policy goals.
“I will be flexible,” she said.
Takaichi is hugely popular, but the governing LDP, which has ruled Japan for most of the last seven decades, has struggled with funding and religious scandals in recent years. She called Sunday’s early election only after three months in office, hoping to turn that around while her popularity is high.
The ultraconservative Takaichi, who took office as Japan’s first female leader in October, pledged to “work, work, work,” and her style, which is seen as both playful and tough, has resonated with younger fans who say they weren't previously interested in politics.
The opposition, despite the formation of a new centrist alliance and a rising far-right, was too splintered to be a real challenger. The new opposition alliance of LDP’s former coalition partner, Buddhist-backed dovish Komeito, and the liberal-leaning Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, is projected to sink to half of their combined preelection share of 167 seats.
Takaichi was betting with this election that her LDP party, together with its new partner, the JIP, would secure a majority.
Trump in a post on his Truth Social platform Sunday congratulated Takaichi "on a LANDSLIDE Victory in today’s very important Vote. She is a highly respected and very popular Leader. Sanae’s bold and wise decision to call for an Election paid off big time.”
Akihito Iwatake, a 53-year-old office worker, said he welcomed the big win by the LDP because he felt the party went too liberal in the past few years. “With Takaichi shifting things more toward the conservative side, I think that brought this positive result,” he said.
The prime minister wants to push forward a significant shift to the right in Japan’s security, immigration and other policies. The LDP's right-wing partner, JIP leader Hirofumi Yoshimura, has said his party will serve as an “accelerator” for this push.
Japan has recently seen far-right populists gain ground, such as the anti-globalist and surging nationalist party Sanseito. Exit polls projected a big gain for Sanseito.
The first major task for Takaichi when the lower house reconvenes in mid-February is to work on a budget bill, delayed by the election, to fund economic measures that address rising costs and sluggish wages.
Takaichi has pledged to revise security and defense policies by December to bolster Japan’s offensive military capabilities, lifting a ban on weapons exports and moving further away from the country’s postwar pacifist principles.
She has been pushing for tougher policies on foreigners, anti-espionage and other measures that resonate with a far-right audience, but ones that experts say could undermine civil rights.
Takaichi also wants to increase defense spending in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s pressure for Japan to loosen its purse strings.
She now has time to work on these policies, without an election until 2028.
Though Takaichi said that she's seeking to win support for policies seen as divisive in Japan, she largely avoided discussing ways to fund soaring military spending, how to fix diplomatic tension with China and other issues.
Her rightward shift is unlikely to redirect Japan's foreign policy and Takaichi is expected to maintain good relations with South Korea given shared concerns about threats from North Korea and China. But but Seoul would worry about a Japanese attempt to revise the country's pacifist constitution or to further build up military because of Japan's wartime past, said Leif-Eric Easley, professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul.
In her campaign speeches, Takaichi enthusiastically talked about the need for proactive government spending to fund “crisis management investment and growth,” such as measures to strengthen economic security, technology and other industries. Takaichi also seeks to push tougher measures on immigration, including stricter requirements for foreign property owners and a cap on foreign residents.
Sunday's election “underscores a problematic trend in Japanese politics in which political survival takes priority over substantive policy outcomes,” said Masato Kamikubo, a Ritsumeikan University politics professor. “Whenever the government attempts necessary but unpopular reforms ... the next election looms.”
Sunday’s vote coincided with fresh snowfall across the country, including in Tokyo. Record snowfall in northern Japan over the past few weeks blocked roads and was blamed for dozens of deaths nationwide.
Associated Press writers Mayuko Ono and Hiromi Tanoue in Tokyo and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.
Sanae Takaichi, Japan's prime minister and president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), receives an interview at the LDP headquarters Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026 in Tokyo, (Keisuke Hosojima/Kyodo News via AP)
Sanae Takaichi, Japan's prime minister and president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), puts pins marking the names of candidates who won lower house elections at the LDP headquarters Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026 in Tokyo. (Keisuke Hosojima/Kyodo News via AP)
Yoshihiko Noda, left, and Kenta Saito, right, co-heads of the newly formed Japanese political party Centrist Reform Alliance, attend their press conference Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026 in Tokyo, (Yohei Fukai/Kyodo News via AP)
Sanae Takaichi, center, Japan's prime minister and president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), puts pins marking the names of candidates who won lower house elections, at the LDP headquarters Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026 in Tokyo, (Kim Kyung-Hoon/Pool Photo via AP)
Sanae Takaichi, center, Japan's prime minister and president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), speaks during an interview at the LDP headquarters Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026 in Tokyo. (Kim Kyung-Hoon/Pool Photo via AP)
Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Secretary-General Shunichi Suzuki and other lawmakers puts pins marking the names of candidates who won lower house elections at the LDP headquarters in Tokyo, Sunday Feb. 8, 2026. (Kim Kyung-Hoon/Pool Photo via AP)
Election officials open ballot boxes as they prepare to count the votes in the lower house election in Tokyo, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)
Staff prepare to count the votes for the lower house election in Tokyo, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)
A voter fills in a ballot in the lower house election at a polling station Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)
A voter fills in a ballot in the lower house election at a polling station Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)
A voter fills in a ballot in the upper house election at a polling station Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)
A voter casts a ballot in the upper house election at a polling station Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)
A voter casts a ballot in the upper house election at a polling station Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)
