On Wednesday, in a Champions League encounter held in the Spanish capital, holders Real Madrid thrashed RB Salzburg with a score of 5 - 1. Brazilian forwards Rodrygo and Vinicius Jr each scored two goals, and Kylian Mbappé also found the back of the net.

Although the Austrian team had the upper hand in the early stages of the game, causing real difficulties with their intense high - press strategy, Real Madrid gradually began to assert their dominance. This was largely due to the inspiring displays of their Brazilian pair and England's midfielder, Jude Bellingham.

The Spanish team broke the deadlock through a swift counter - attack led by Vinicius. He sent a long pass across the penalty box towards Bellingham. However, Bellingham was unable to control the ball while running at full speed. Rodrygo, though, showed great reflexes and promptly slotted a first - touch shot just inside the right goalpost in the 23rd minute.

Rodrygo extended the home side's lead in the 34th minute, curling home a shot from inside the box after a brilliant back heel flick from Bellingham in a fine one-two combination between them.

Mbappé took advantage of a massive blunder by Salzburg goalkeeper and captain Janis Blaswich, who failed to dribble the ball past the French striker and instead gifted him the third goal in the 48th minute.

With an easy win well underway, Vinicius started putting on a show up and down the left channel and made two magnificent runs in the 55th and 77th minutes to extend Madrid's lead.

First he took a great long pass by Luka Modric in his stride to beat one defender in speed and another with a cut inside before firing an unstoppable strike into the top corner.

Vinicius stroked in the fifth in another quick counter, receiving a Federico Valverde pass in space and dribbling past two defenders before wrong-footing the goalkeeper.

Mads Bidstrup scored the visitors' consolation goal in the 85th minute.

After a slow start to their title defence, losing three of their first five matches, Real Madrid are 16th in the standings on 12 points.

They have secured qualification for the next round, but would need to win their last game at Brest and rely on other results to earn a top-eight finish and avoid a two-legged playoff.

"A very important day for us. A win that gives us a lot of confidence going forward," Rodrygo told Movistar Plus.

"Sometimes we go through difficult times. We work hard not to, but it's not always easy. This season we are failing a bit in games that we can't fail.

"I truly believe that it's always going to be difficult in the Champions League. We need to have a relentless mentality, to score a lot of goals and win a lot of games."

Salzburg are 34th, third from bottom, eliminated from the competition with only three points from seven games.