Real Madrid romp Valencia in Bellingham's absence

Real Madrid run riot against Valencia to stay on pace with Girona who are at the top of LALIGA,

Despite being without top goalscorer Jude Bellingham, Real Madrid made lightwork of Valencia, beating them 5-1 in their LALIGA clash.

Los Blancos knew they needed a win to keep pace with Girona, who opened a five-point lead at the top of the log earlier in the day. Carlo Ancelotti's men were ruthless in reaching for this aim, blowing away their Valencian opponents.

How it happened

Contrary to the heavily lopsided scoreline, the match was pretty much end-to-end or at least the first-half was.

Madrid took an early lead thanks to a moment of individual brilliance from Carvajal. The Spaniard received a long diagonal from Toni Kroos, and his first touch was such that his second was the strike that put the ball into the back of the net.

What followed was a spate of chances for Valencia, but Los Che failed to punish their host’s shoddy defending, with Hugo Duro being the major culprit.

Real Madrid spurned chances of their own, but given the immense quality in the side, they eventually doubled their lead in the 42nd minute when Rodrygo found Vinicius, who in turn fired in with a bizarre finish using his chest.

Vinicius grabbed a brace in the 49th minute, beating Giorgi Mamardashvili at his near post with another Rodrygo assist. Rodrygo eventually got his name on the scoresheet almost immediately after Vini made it three, finding space in the middle of the Valencia area before firing past Mamardashvili.

Rodrygo had his own brace ‘in the 84th minute before the profligate Hugo Duro gave Valencia a consolation goal in the 88th minute.

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