A piece influenced by Jude Bellingham With a convincing victory over Villarreal, Real Madrid moved seven points clear of Barcelona and eight clear of Atletico Madrid. However, the joy of returning to the top of La Liga was somewhat dampened by what appeared to be a serious injury sustained by David Alaba.

Bellingham scored the first goal to extend his incredible record to 17 goals in 20 games across all competitions, and “Hey Jude” was ringing throughout the Bernabeu. However, it was not all good news as Alaba was substituted out in the first half due to what appeared to be a potential cruciate ligament damage.

Bellingham, who possesses center-forward stats, broke the tie on minute twenty-five with a goal of his own. Bellingham headed a header past Filip Jorgensen after Lucas Vazquez crossed the ball from the right to Luka Modric, who flicked a beautiful ball into the middle.

Twelve minutes later, Rodrygo extended Madrid’s lead when Villarreal failed to clear Modric’s corner. It was the Brazilian’s ninth goal in the previous 11 games. He scored from just inside the six-yard box.

It was that terrible moment for Alaba in between the scores. He seemed to severely twist his left knee as he applied pressure from behind on Gerard Moreno. After Nacho entered the game, Antonio Rudiger and he were the only players remaining in the middle of Real Madrid’s defense.

Madrid’s initial response was limited to stating that the injury appeared severe. They will have to look for a reinforcement in January if it is determined that Alaba has ruptured his cruciate ligament, an injury that has already been sustained this season by defender Thibaut Courtois and center-back Edu Militao.

Shortly after ten minutes into the second half, Villarreal regained the lead when Jose Luis Morales, following a pass from Ramon Terrats, came in underneath Antonio Rudiger to make it 2-1. Since Marcelino took over the team, Morales has five goals in the league.

On sixty-four minutes, however, Brahim Diaz’s incredible third goal for Real Madrid made the difference two goals once more.

On the halfway line, he turned away from Aisa Mandi and carried the ball into the penalty area, where he fired past Jorgensen after sending Mandi’s central defense partner Jorge Cuenca the wrong way.

In just four minutes, the fourth one occurred. 

After Rodrygo’s attempt was blocked by Etienne Capoue’s play-making, the ball found its way back to Modric, who scored his first goal of the year. Madrid was now really feeling the vibe. 

Bellingham was recently issued a ticket for no more than attempting to fend off Adria Altimira as she attempted to remove his shirt; he was penalized similarly to Altimira for her prolonged shirt pull when he extended his hand to confront the criminal.

Bellingham went down a few moments later, and the referee gestured to the fans to turn up the noise. The match official, Jorge Figueroa Vázquez, appeared to take offense at this and threatened to give Bellingham another yellow card.

The England midfielder was still charging into every challenge even with the score at 4-1. He has no idea what it means to ease up. 

Real Madrid had already won the match when former Blackburn forward Ben Brereton entered the game late for Villarreal. Girona knew that Real Madrid would take the lead back in La Liga if they defeated Alaves on Monday.