The English newcomer, Jude Bellingham, was on time again, scoring and passing, to lead his new team, Real Madrid, to its second successive victory, at the start of the season, and came at the expense of its host Almeria 3-1, after it was behind with a goal, today, Saturday, in the second round of the Spanish Football League.
The young Englishman scored the net in the opening victory over Athletic Bilbao 2-0 by scoring the second goal, then starred today by scoring the first two goals, before passing the third goal to Brazilian Vinicius Junior.
Bellingham confirmed that Real’s bet on him was in place, and showed at the beginning of the Spanish adventure that he was able to compensate for the departure of Frenchman Karim Benzema to the Saudi League.
And Real found himself lagging behind since the third minute, when Almeria surprised him with a counterattack that ended with a cross from Lucas Robertoni from the left side to Sergio Arribas coming in the back of the defense, so he rose to it without control and turned it into the net of Ukrainian goalkeeper Andrey Lunin, who played essential despite the arrival of Kiba Arisabalaga to make up for the absence Belgian Thibaut Courtois due to injury.
Almeria surprises Real Madrid with an early goal #La Liga #Almeria _ Real _ Madrid #LaLiga #beINLiga pic.twitter.com/e4DVVvyj25
– beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) August 19, 2023
But Bellingham equalized for the royal club after breaking the offside trap after a header pass from Uruguayan Federico Valverde, following a cross from Dani Caravajal in the 19th minute.
Bellingham (20 years and 51 days) became the second youngest player to score two goals in his first two matches in the Spanish League during the 21st century, after Mark Susayeta in 2007 at the age of 19 and 275 years, according to “Opta” statistics.
The German, Toni Kroos, believed that he gave Real the lead in the last seconds of the first half, but the referee canceled the goal due to a mistake that was calculated after resorting to the video assistive technology (VAR) in the fifth minute of stoppage time.
But the royal club made up for this goal at the beginning of the second half, and advanced with a second goal in the match for Bellingham, who rose to the ball from Kroos and headed it into the net, taking advantage of a wrong exit by Portuguese goalkeeper Luis Maximiano in the 60th minute.
Bellingham turned from a scorer into a passer when he delivered the ball to Vinicius Junior, and the latter scored the third goal by hitting the ball in the right corner of Maximiano’s goal in the 73rd minute, before Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti decided to rest the English star.
In one word, describe the beauty of Vinicius’ goal 😍#La Liga #Almeria _ Real _ Madrid #LaLiga #beINLiga pic.twitter.com/X1sC5EAcfn
– beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) August 19, 2023
Thus, Bellingham became the third player to play a role in 4 goals during his first two matches in the Spanish League during the current century, after Dutchman Wesley Sneijder (August 2007) and Moroccan Mounir El Hamdaoui (September 2013), according to Opta.
