Rodrygo and Bellingham shine as Real Madrid secure dominant victory over Athletic Club

Rodrygo and Bellingham deliver dominant Real Madrid victory over Athletic Club

Saturday, August 12, 2023 at 11:29 PM

Real Madrid immediately did excellent business in LaLiga. The team of coach Carlo Ancelotti won the on paper difficult game with Athletic Club 0-2. Rodrygo and Jude Bellingham already took care of the final score. The Englishman therefore immediately crowned his debut in LaLiga with a goal. Real dominated and had surprisingly little to fear from Athletic. Title competitors Barcelona and Atlético will play their first league match on Sunday and Monday respectively.

Ancelotti seems to have definitively abandoned the 4-3-3 system. The Italian already announced that he wanted to experiment with a two-striker system and did so frequently in the preparation. This was also the case on Saturday evening: Vinícius Júnior and Rodrygo formed the striker couple of the Madrilenians. The four-man midfield consisted of Eduardo Camavinga, Aurélien Tchouaméni, Federico Valverde and Bellingham. The Englishman was the front pawn of the foursome. Fran García was given the chance at left back, while Andriy Lunin replaced the badly injured Thibaut Courtois under the crossbar. At Athletic, the offensive hopes were mainly based on the brothers Nico Williams and Iñaki Williams.

There were no really big chances in the opening phase. However, Vinícius Júnior was active and the Brazilian created the necessary threat. The first big opportunity hit the Royal immediately. Rodrygo gave in to Dani Carvajal, who had come along, who in turn passed the ball back to the Brazilian. Rodrygo saw a hole in the far corner and found it flawless: 0-1. Real reached a high level in the first half at times, while Athletic had little to say at home. For example, the Basques got away well when a bet by David Alaba, via Athletic goalie Unia Simón, hit the post.

The capitals dominated against the surprisingly weak Athletic and doubled their lead ten minutes before the break. A corner kick from Alaba ended up with Bellingham, who sent his shot behind Simón via a cunning bounce: 0-2. Athletic coach Ernesto Valverde decided to make three substitutions during the break. Álex Berenguer, Oihan Sancet and Gorka Guruzeta entered the field. However, it didn’t have a really big effect. Although Real played less than before the break, Ancelotti’s team remained the parent. The visitors came close to 0-3 several times. Valverde, for example, placed his free kick just over the wrong side of the post and Vinícius bumped into Simón. The Spanish international also had an answer to a shot from substitute Luka Modric in the final phase.

Nr.TeamMWGVP1Real Madrid110032Rayo Vallecano110033Valencia110034Real Mallorca101015Real Sociedad101016Las Palmas101017Girona101018Alavés000009Atlético Madrid0000010Barcelona0000011Celta de Vigo000001 2Cádiz0000013Getafe0000014Granada 0000015Osasuna0000016Real Betis0000017Villarreal0000018Sevilla1001019Almería1001020Athletic Club10010
2023-08-12 22:30:00
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