{"id":15002,"date":"2023-08-20T15:27:48","date_gmt":"2023-08-20T15:27:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/?p=15002"},"modified":"2023-08-20T15:27:48","modified_gmt":"2023-08-20T15:27:48","slug":"bellingham-hits-brace-as-madrid-earns-comeback-win-at-almeria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/?p=15002","title":{"rendered":"Bellingham Hits Brace As Madrid Earns Comeback Win At Almeria"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/punchng.com\/author\/agencyreport\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Agency Report<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">New arrival Jude Bellingham struck twice for Real Madrid to help them come from behind to beat Almeria 3-1 in La Liga on Saturday.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">After netting on his debut last weekend, Bellingham again played a key role for Carlo Ancelotti\u2019s side as they maintained their 100 per cent start to the season.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Vinicius Junior added the third after being teed up by Bellingham to wrap up Los Blancos\u2019 victory at the Power Horse Stadium on Spain\u2019s east coast after Sergio Arribas had sent the hosts ahead early on.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Without talisman and Ballon d\u2019Or holder Karim Benzema, who left the club in the summer, Bellingham has quickly filled the void with three goals in his first two games.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The former Borussia Dortmund and Birmingham City star has hit the ground running in Spain, wearing former Madrid great Zinedine Zidane\u2019s number five shirt.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Real Madrid started German duo Toni Kroos and Antonio Rudiger in place of Eduardo Camavinga and the injured Eder Militao.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Andriy Lunin continued in goal despite Kepa Arrizabalaga\u2019s arrival from Chelsea to help cover for Thibaut Courtois, set to miss most of the season.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The Ukrainian goalkeeper might have done better with Arribas\u2019s opener in the third minute, a header from Lucas Robertone\u2019s cross at the end of a break.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Former Madrid player Arribas sprinted forward from deep to lose Fran Garcia and nod past Lunin, following his summer switch.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Bellingham levelled from close range, thinking quickly after the ball dropped to him in the box to add to his opening-day strike.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The England international\u2019s strike survived a VAR check for offside and handball.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Bellingham, deployed as a number 10 again by Ancelotti, was a tricky presence for Almeria to handle in the box for his towering size and skill.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Kroos put Real Madrid ahead just before half-time with a typically classy finish but the goal was ruled out for a foul by Dani Carvajal.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Madrid eventually took the lead when Bellingham nodded Kroos\u2019s cross home on the hour mark, his height once again proving a useful weapon for Madrid.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The midfielder followed in his younger brother Jobe\u2019s footsteps after the Sunderland forward netted a brace against Rotherham earlier Saturday in the Championship.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Madrid secured victory when Bellingham fed Vinicius in the area and the Brazilian swept a deflected strike into the top corner.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Madrid moved provisionally top of La Liga, ahead of Valencia on goal difference, both with six points from their first two games.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Champions Barcelona, who drew their opening game against Getafe, welcome Cadiz on Sunday in their first match away from Camp Nou at the Olympic Stadium on the city\u2019s Montjuic hill.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">AFP<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New arrival Jude Bellingham struck twice for Real Madrid to help them come from behind to beat Almeria 3-1 in La Liga on Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15003,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3814,7125,58],"class_list":["post-15002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-almeria","tag-jude-bellingham","tag-real-madrid"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15002"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15002"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15002\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15004,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15002\/revisions\/15004"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}