Mbappé hits 25. Lewandowski waits.

Real Madrid needed a win and Kylian Mbappé needed goals. Both got what they came for. The Frenchman scored twice at the Bernabéu on Saturday — his 24th and 25th of the La Liga season — to give Carlo Ancelotti's side a 2-1 win over Celta Vigo that was tighter than it had any right to be.

Vinícius Júnior set up both. That detail matters, because when those two are in sync, Madrid don't need much else. Vinicius ghosted, threaded, and created; Mbappé finished. It's becoming a familiar arrangement.

The Pichichi picture

Mbappé arrived in Spain with a point to prove in a league that doesn't hand out golden boots on reputation. Twenty-five goals deep into the season, the argument is settling itself. Lewandowski has been the benchmark all year — tidy, reliable, quietly relentless — but Mbappé is right there, and he has the kind of finishing that can close a gap in a single afternoon.

Celta made it uncomfortable. A 2-1 scoreline at the Bernabéu is never the stroll the home crowd expects, and there were moments in the second half where the visitors looked capable of levelling. They didn't. Madrid held, not always elegantly, but they held.

Ancelotti keeps it brief

Post-match, Carlo Ancelotti was asked about the performance, the pressure, the title implications — the usual bundle. His answer: "We are professionals. We play." Six words. He has been doing this long enough to know that six words and a 2-1 win beats a paragraph and a draw every time.

Ancelotti didn't look like a man who felt he needed to explain anything.