Three stats from Real Madrid 4-0 Osasuna

Real Madrid head into the international break with a win, having beaten Osasuna 4-0 at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu with a convincing victory which serves as a further confidence boost for Carlo Ancelotti’s side.

Jude Bellingham, who else, opened the scoring, adding a second after half-time before the floodgates opened with Vinícius Júnior making it three and Joselu completing the set with four. The Spanish centre-forward would then have a chance to make it five with a penalty, but Osasuna goalkeeper Sergio Herrera stopped a fourth Real Madrid penalty in his career to deny Joselu.

Here are three stats that help to tell the tale of Real Madrid’s win on Saturday afternoon.

12: Number of points won by Jude Bellingham goals in all competitions

There are few things left to say about Jude Bellingham’s incredible goalscoring form. With a brace against Osasuna here, adding two more goals to his tally to take it to 10 goals in his first 10 Real Madrid games.

What we can say is that beyond just the headline figure of his goals scored, his goals have actually mattered. Of his 10 goals, one tied a game and six opened the scoring or gave Real Madrid the lead. Only three, including his second goal on Saturday, served the purpose of extending a Real Madrid lead.

In total, that accounts for a total of four points in two Champions League games (a winner against Union Berlin and giving Real Madrid the lead in Naples), and eight in LaLiga. Without his goals, Real Madrid would be sat in fifth place in Laliga.

In scoring eight goals in his first eight LaLiga games, Jude Bellingham has joined an exclusive club of only two men to achieve that feat: Alfredo di Stéfano and Ferenc Puskás. That’s certainly not bad company to be in.

21: Games unbeaten against Osasuna

You’d have to go back 12 years to find the last time that Real Madrid were beaten by Osasuna, with 21 unbeaten meetings against the Navarrans. That makes it one of the longest unbeaten runs Real Madrid possess against any team.

Over that 21 games, it includes six draws and 15 wins, dating back to January 2011 when Javier Camuñas scored the only goal of the game in a 1-0 win for Osasuna at El Sadar. Only four players in action for Real Madrid that day are still active, including Sergio Ramos (now at Sevilla), Angel di María (now at Benfica), Cristiano Ronaldo (now at Al Nassr) and Karim Benzema (now at Al-Ittihad).

The biggest win in the 21-match streak was a 7-1 victory at the Bernabéu which featured a Cristiano Ronaldo hat-trick in November 2011. This 4-0 win is the joint-biggest victory since then, matching the same result in April 2014. Nine years on, Real Madrid have repeated a four-goal margin against the side from Pamplona.

Jagoba Arrasate’s Osasuna have taken two consecutive draws at the Bernabéu, and have made life very difficult for Real Madrid. This time around, Ancelotti made light work of his rivals and the home team emerged victorious and maintained their strong start to the 2023/24 campaign before heading into the international break.

6: Duels won by Aurelién Tchouameni in defence, more than any other player

If you didn’t have a clue who you were watching, you could easily be forgiven for not realising that Real Madrid had a defensive crisis. Osasuna recorded just one shot on target, and only six in total, throughout the full 90 minutes as Antonio Rüdiger and Aurelién Tchouameni looked comfortable as they handled Ante Budimir in the Osasuna frontline.

Carlo Ancelotti had hinted that it would either be Tchouameni or Ferland Mendy who would move into a central defensive role with David Alaba out injured, and both started with Tchouameni in the middle. Tchouameni has not played there for Los Blancos before, but was tested in the position throughout the week in training.

The 23-year-old titan looked comfortable, recovering possession four times and winning six of his nine duels, more than any other player. In particular, he won four of his five aerial duels up against Budimir, who is one of LaLiga’s strongest attackers in the air. He did pick up a yellow card, but it came in the only foul that he committed, as he went through the back of Rubén Pena.

Alaba is expected to be back fit after the international break, so Ancelotti’s headache should be short-lived, but Tchouameni’s assured display should give him comfort that there is a fourth option in defence. Nacho still has two games of suspension to serve, but Alaba should be fit for the post-international break clash with Sevilla.