Güler opened the scoring in the 30th minute, before Kylian Mbappé doubled the advantage seven minutes later. Mbappé converted a penalty in the second half to make it 3-0, and although Manu Bueno pulled one back for Sevilla, Yan Diomande restored Madrid’s three-goal cushion with a late strike.
The win gave José Mourinho’s side another boost ahead of the upcoming Clásico, but Sevilla manager Luis García Plaza was left questioning why his team had not been given the opportunity to play against ten men.
García Plaza argued that an alleged elbow involving Güler should have resulted in a red card. He insisted the incident had fundamentally altered the contest, even while acknowledging that Sevilla could not know whether they would have taken advantage of a numerical superiority.
“An elbow and that’s it,” he said, referring to the incident. “A match is eleven against eleven, but we were deprived of playing eleven against ten. In LaLiga, sometimes you play matches with a numerical advantage or disadvantage, and today it was our turn to have the advantage.”
The Sevilla coach was particularly frustrated that the incident had not led to a VAR intervention.
“I don’t know why they didn’t alert the referee from VAR,” he said. “Perhaps because they would have been nine points ahead before going into El Clásico if we won.”
García Plaza also claimed that Sevilla had been denied a free-kick in another incident involving Robbie Ure, but accepted that the outcome might have been different even with a numerical advantage.
Mourinho refused to be drawn into the dispute, saying he had not seen clear footage of the incident. He insisted that he would acknowledge a decision that benefited his team if convincing evidence emerged.
“I don’t comment. I want to get away from Luis García’s words, not from the controversy. Nobody has managed to show me what they say happened. I don’t have a single image,” he said.
The Madrid manager added that he had asked members of his staff to find footage, but had not seen anything that changed his view. He also rejected suggestions that he had been concerned about losing Güler for the Clásico.
Turning to the performance, Mourinho praised his players for controlling the match and producing high-quality goals against a Sevilla side he respected.
“It was a good performance from the team. There were many players at a high level, a match we controlled from the first minute to the last, with a high percentage of possession. We scored good goals. It was a nice victory against a good opponent.”
The result lifted Madrid into third place, keeping them in touch with the leading sides as attention turns to the next round of fixtures. Sevilla, meanwhile, were left with a heavy defeat and lingering frustration over the disputed incident.