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Continuing his remarkable start to life at Real Madrid, Jude Bellingham equaled a Cristiano Ronaldo record by scoring in the 1-0 La Liga win at Celta Vigo on Friday (August 25).
The 20-year-old England international arrived on a £88.5 million move from Borussia Dortmund and has hit the ground running at the Santiago Bernabeu. After scoring on his competitive debut for Los Blancos in the 2-0 league win at Athletic Bilbao on August 13, Bellingham scored twice in the 3-1 win at Almeria.
As if that wasn't enough, the former BVB midfielder scored the lone goal of the game at Celta nine minutes from time as Carlo Ancelotti's men remain perfect after three league games. In the process, Bellingham became the first Real Madrid player since Ronaldo in 2009 to score four times in his first three La Liga games.
The Englishman's feat is more impressive for two reasons: first, he wasn't quite renowned for scoring while at BVB; second, his feat has come away from home, as Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu is under renovation. Bellingham is set to make his Bernabeu debut on September 2 against Getafe.
A delighted Ancelotti beamed after the game (as per The Mirror):
"This wasn't a victory purely based on quality, but rather on commitment. Bellingham is doing very well. He keeps scoring and contributing to the team."
The Madrid boss added:
"Goals aren't his biggest quality, but he's doing well. He is good off the ball, he's intelligent and his timing is good. He's got a lot of ability on the edge of the area."
Real Madrid boss bemused that Luka Modric didn't take penalty against Celta Vigo
It was a near perfect night for Real Madrid at Celta Vigo except for Vinicius' injury. They eventually prevailed by a Jude Bellingham strike, but the margin of victory could have been more resounding had they converted a penalty.
With regular taker Vinicius taken off after 18 minutes due to injury, Luka Modric was the designated penalty taker. However, instead of the 2018 Ballon d'Or winner, it was Rodrygo who stepped up but missed.
A bemused Ancelotti said that he didn't have enough time to convey to the players that Modric should have taken the penalty, expressing surprise that Rodrygo took it. The Real Madrid manager said (via SBNation):
“They are not free to choose the shooter. I don’t know what happened. Luka was supposed to take it, and I don’t know what happened. The one who was supposed to take it was Vini, but he wasn’t there. They chose Rodrygo, and I didn’t have time to say that it should have been Modric.
“Am I angry? A little, yes. At that time it was difficult to communicate, I said it to Fede, but there wasn’t time. We’ll look at it in the next few days.”
About Vinicius' injury, Ancelotti said that it isn't serious, adding the forward was only taken out early as a precaution.
