Real Madrid 5-1 RB Salzburg: Player ratings as Champions League holders cruise to big win | OneFootball

Real Madrid guaranteed their place in the Champions League knockout playoff round with a thumping 5-1 win over RB Salzburg at the Santiago Bernabeu.

The 15-time winners and current holders had surprisingly lost three of their opening six matches to sit surprisingly close to the league phase's dreaded bottom eight.

But a determined, energised Madrid came bounding out from the changing room to put in a statement performance, showing all the verve and class that you'd expect to see from a side containing the likes of Kylian Mbappe, Jude Bellingham and Vinicius Junior.

It was another Brazilian, Rodrygo, who got the party started for Madrid, opening the scoring after 23 minutes with a measured finish into the far corner. That particular goal was steady, but what followed from the tricky winger was absolutely spectacular. Cutting in from the left, he raced onto Bellingham's no-look back-heel to whip a wonderful strike beyond the outstretched glove of Janis Blaswich.

Mbappe scored one of the easiest goals he'll ever score in his Madrid career soon after the break, robbing Blaswich of the ball before tapping into an empty net, before Vinicius got in on the act with the first of his two goals.

Scampering onto Luka Modric's ball in-behind the full-back, the Ballon d'Or runner-up showed tremendously quick feet to open up the angle, cutting inside to a lash an unstoppable effort into the far corner.

His second was the result of a lightning fast counter that saw makeshift right-back Federico Valverde waltz through the middle of the park before putting the ball on a plate for the 24-year-old. One shimmy of the body later and Vinicius had glided through on goal, sliding easily past Blaswich.

The only sour note for Madrid was Thibaut Courtois losing his clean sheet to Mads Bidstrup five minutes from time, but they have risen to 16th in the Champions League table and sit just a point behind the top eight.

Real Madrid player ratings (4-2-3-1)

Vinicius Junior made it look easy at times / Eurasia Sport Images/GettyImages

*Ratings provided by FotMob

Subs not used: Andriy Lunin (GK), Fran Gonzalez (GK), Fran Garcia, Jesus Vallejo, Aurelien Tchouameni, Chema Andres,