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Real Madrid midfiedler Jude Bellingham has praised teammate Fede Valverde for the latter's performance in their 4-0 win over Celta Vigo.
Los Blancos reinstated their seven-point lead atop the La Liga standings with a victory at the Santiago Bernabeu on Sunday, March 10. Vinicius Junior's 21st strike set them on their way. Own-goals from Vicente Guaita (79') and Carlos Dominguez (88'), and Arda Guler's first goal for the club (90+4') secured a resounding win.
While he wasn't heavily involved in any of the goals, Valverde put in another workhorse shift in midfield. The Uruguayan completed 88% of his 64 passes, laid out two key passes and created a big chance. He also won five of his eight duels and completed two dribbles, making two tackles and a clearance as well.
After the match, Valverde took to Instagram to post images of him in action during the game and of the team celebrating one of their goals. He captioned it (translated from Spanish):
"Getting closer and closer 🙏🏼"
The post drew a comment from his Real Madrid teammate Bellingham. The Englishman notably missed the clash against Celta due to suspension after receiving a red card at the end of the controversial match against Valencia.
"Make me tired just watching 🏃🏽♂️😵💫"
Real Madrid's attention will now shift to next weekend when they visit 10th-placed Osasuna in La Liga on March 16.
Fede Valverde's stats for Real Madrid this season
Fede Valverde has endured a steep drop in the goalscoring department after netting 12 times in 56 matches across competitions last season. In the ongoing campaign, he has scored just once in 40 matches, but it hasn't mattered as much with Jude Bellingham shouldering most of the scoring load for the team.
However, the 25-year-old has contributed in other ways for Real Madrid and is only two short of his assists tally (seven) from last season. Valverde has averaged 1.7 key passes per game in La Liga, with 34.1 of his 54.7 accurate passes in the league coming in the opposition half. His overall pass accuracy stands at 91%.
He has also averaged 1.2 interceptions, 1.4 tackles, 3.0 successful duels and 4.9 ball recoveries per league game. Those numbers are largely similar in the UEFA Champions League as well (1.3, 1.8, 3.6 and 4.6 respectively, with 91% passing accuracy).
