Real Madrid starts the season on the right foot with a great victory

The real Madrid debuted with victory in the new league season this Saturday by winning 2-0 at Athletic Bilbao, with the best tribute to their goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois after the serious knee injury suffered this week.

The Meringue players took to the pitch at San Mamés wearing jerseys to support their teammate, which read “Mucha fuerza Tibo”, who will have been able to enjoy the goals from Rodrygo (28) and Jude Bellingham (36) from home. .

The Englishman, star signing for the Merengues in this market window, was one of the great references in a midfield, in which Carlo Ancelotti left Luka Modric and Toni Kroos on the bench from the start, giving the youngsters the leading role .

bellingham He was omnipresent in all parts of the field, assisting both in defense and dangerously reaching the opposite area, to help Rodrygo and Vinicius in front of the opposite goal.

The first half hour of the game was a duel in midfield with two very close teams and very intense pressure, which prevented any great chances for either side until Rodrygo found the way to the goal. The Brazilian found a loose ball in the area to unleash a strong shot at the near post that surprised goalkeeper Unai Simón (28).

The goal led Real Madrid to pause the game a bit, while they continued to keep Athletic handcuffed, who in the first half could not get a single shot on goal to the relief of Andriy Lunin, Courtois’ substitute.

Bellingham scores his first league goal

The white team extended the score near the break with an unorthodox shot from Bellingham in which the ball bounced off the ground describing a parabola that surprised the Athletic international goalkeeper (36).

Just a minute before, Vinicius had managed to reach the Basque goal but he found a good save from Unai Simón (35). Athletic, who hardly gave Lunin any work in the first half, took a step forward in the second half, pressing Real Madrid up front, which began to have some difficulties and lost its defensive wall Eder Militao.

The Brazilian central defender suffered an injury to his left knee, which forced him to leave the field of play, being replaced by Antonio Rudiger (50).

Real Madrid chose to put up with the local harassment and look for their options on the counterattack with the speed of their attacking men. Vinicius was able to put the third in a shot after after a combination with Bellingham, who ran into Unai Simón (69). Ancelotti turned to the seniority of Modric and Kroos to manage the last minutes of the match and control the ball, against an Athletic that never gave up, driven by the noisy local fans.

Athletic kept pushing, but would not be able to reverse the result and prevent Merengue’s first victory in this new league season, taking the lead in the standings. Earlier, in the first game of the day, Real Sociedad drew 1-1 with Girona. The Basque team took the lead with a goal from the Japanese Take Kubo (5), but the Ukrainian Artem Dovbyk, the most expensive signing in the history of the Catalan club, equalized in his debut in the Spanish championship (72).

Also recently promoted Las Palmas drew 1-1 with Mallorca in the Canary Islands. Jonathan Viera put the Canaries ahead with a penalty (29), but Antonio José Raillo equalized for the team coached by Javier Aguirre (70).

AFP