Kylian Mbappé equalled Cristiano Ronaldo’s record of 59 goals in a calendar year for Real Madrid with a late penalty in his side’s 2-0 home win over Sevilla in La Liga on Saturday, the French forward celebrating his 27th birthday in style.
Mbappé missed several earlier chances before getting his chance from the spot four minutes from time and he made no mistake to net his 59th goal in as many games across all competitions in 2025 to level Ronaldo’s 2013 haul.
Jude Bellingham put Real in front with a header seven minutes before half-time and Sevilla went down to 10 men with 22 minutes remaining after Marcão received a second booking but the hosts had keeper Thibaut Courtois to thank for keeping them ahead.
“Today, and because of the record, it’s incredible, in my first year to be able to do what Cristiano did,” Mbappé said afterwards. “My idol, the best player in the history of Real Madrid and a reference in world football. It’s an honour for me.”
Mbappé marked his goal by reproducing Ronaldo’s celebration, saying later: “I wanted to give him a little nod because he has always been affectionate with me. Normally I have my own celebration, but I wanted to share that with him, and like I said, he’s been my idol since I was a kid. I have a very good relationship with him, he’s a friend now.”
Real are second in the table on 42 points, one behind Barcelona who are away to third-placed Villarreal on Sunday, while Sevilla are ninth on 20 points.
Juventus kept themselves in the Serie A race with a 2-1 home win over AS Roma on Saturday, with Francisco Conceição and Loïs Openda netting the goals for the home side and Tommaso Baldanzi scoring for the visitors.
With the top three clubs all away at the Italian Super Cup in Saudi Arabia, Roma were looking to take advantage and move level on points with leaders Inter Milan. Instead, Juventus moved back into the title hunt, one point behind Roma who remain fourth on 30 points, with Juventus fifth. Milan are in second place, with Napoli third.
Roma continue to struggle against the top sides having already lost to Inter, Milan and Napoli this season.
Bayer Leverkusen scored twice in four minutes to earn a 3-1 comeback victory at RB Leipzig, snapping their hosts’ unbeaten run at home this season and climbing into third going into the Bundesliga’s winter break.
Leverkusen are on 29 points, three behind second-placed Borussia Dortmund, 2-0 winners against Borussia Mönchengladbach on Friday. Bayern Munich, leading on 38, are at Heidenheim on Sunday. Leipzig dropped to fourth on goal difference.
The hosts took the lead when Xaver Schlager threaded his shot past two defenders after a fine solo effort for a 35th-minute goal. Leverkusen, however, needed just four minutes to turn the game on its head. Martin Terrier was on target with a looping header to equalise in the 40th minute and they completed their comeback in the 44th with Patrik Schick wrongfooting Kosta Nedeljkovic and then curling his shot past Peter Gulacsi.
Leipzig tried to come back after the break and Conrad Harder and David Raum went close but they conceded a third goal in stoppage time through Montrell Culbreath for their first home loss of the season after six consecutive victories.
Dzenan Pejcinovic scored a hat-trick and was still on the losing team as Wolfsburg succumbed to Freiburg’s late surge to go down 4-3. Pejcinovic had not scored in the Bundesliga before but the 20-year-old forward, starting because Mohamed Amoura was at the Africa Cup of Nations, made his mark with three goals as Wolfsburg exploited defensive errors by Freiburg.
Wolfsburg’s own blunders also proved costly as defender Jenson Seelt, on loan from Sunderland, gave away a penalty and diverted a save from goalkeeper Kamil Grabara into his own net. That allowed Freiburg to level the score twice before substitute Derry Scherhant scored a 78th-minute winner.
Eintracht Frankfurt ended 2025 in seventh place, after drawing 1-1 with Hamburg. A poor pass across Frankfurt’s defence was picked off by Albert Sambi Lokonga to give Hamburg the lead before Hugo Larsson levelled for Frankfurt from Nathaniel Brown’s cross. On-loan Arsenal midfielder Fábio Vieira thought he had put Hamburg ahead in the 81st minute but his effort was ruled out for an offside.
An offside header from Stuttgart’s Deniz Undav in stoppage time was as close as his team and Hoffenheim got to scoring in their 0-0 draw, a result which did not help either team’s push for the Champions League places. András Schäfer scored a dramatic winner from a corner in stoppage time as eighth-placed Union Berlin finally broke down 10-man Cologne for a 1-0 win after Rav van den Berg’s earlier red card for handball. Augsburg and Werder Bremen drew 0-0.
