Kylian Mbappe hits hat-trick as five-star Real Madrid thump Kairat

Kylian Mbappe’s fourth Champions League hat-trick helped Real Madrid bounce back from their weekend derby thrashing with a 5-0 win away to Kairat.

Xabi Alonso’s side were humbled 5-2 at Atletico Madrid on Sunday and then had to make a 13-hour trip to Kazakhstan.

Alonso made a raft of changes but kept Mbappe as the focal point of the attack and the France forward responded with a first-half penalty and two superb finishes after the break before substitutes Eduardo Camavinga and Brahim Diaz netted late on as Madrid made it two wins from two in Europe.

Vinicius Junior took the armband in the absence of the injured Dani Carvajal and should have opened the scoring in the 14th minute but chipped wide.

Arda Guler went close next with a shot deflected wide before Mbappe’s curler was well saved by Sherkhan Kalmurza in the Kairat goal.

Kalmurza was involved again soon after, but for the wrong reasons as he reacted naively to Egor Sorokin’s poor back header and wiped out Franco Mastantuono inside the penalty area.

It gave Mbappe the chance to score his third consecutive penalty in the competition – he converted two spot-kicks in Madrid’s opener against Marseille – and he duly dispatched from 12 yards to make it 1-0 after 25 minutes.

Guler tested Kalmurza again soon after with a long-range effort which was spilled before Mastantuono sent an effort narrowly off target via the slightest deflection.

Kairat ended the half with some attacking intent, but Valeri Gromyko wasted a promising position with a wayward shot from outside the area seven minutes before the break.

Alonso would have hoped for a second goal soon after the break and it arrived in the 52nd minute through Mbappe, who produced a wonderful chipped finish after Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois’s long kick.

The Kazakhstan minnows responded strongly with a free-kick curled wide by Chelsea-bound 18-year-old Dastan Satpayev before Ofri Arad went even closer with a fine effort.

Mbappe then squandered a golden chance when he exchanged passes with Vinicius Jr before inexplicably sending his side-footed finish the wrong side of a post from 10 yards.

The buoyant Kairat crowd thought they had a moment to savour in the 68th minute when Dani Ceballos appeared to bring down Gromyko, but replays showed the home midfielder had invited the contact and the decision was overturned following a VAR review.

Courtois had been called into action by a superb volley by Luis Mata moments earlier, but with 17 minutes left, Mbappe did complete his treble.

Substitute Rodrygo was the catalyst with a dazzling run and Guler flicked the ball on to to Mbappe, who found the corner first time for his 15th goal in all competitions.

There was still time for Camavinga to score only three minutes after his introduction in the 83rd minute, stooping low to head in Rodrygo’s cross, before Diaz fired into the bottom corner in stoppage time to wrap up the scoring in Almaty.