Immediate Reaction: Real Madrid 5-1 Valencia

Real Madrid 5-1 Valencia (Carvajal, Vinícius Júnior x2 & Rodrygo Goes x2). A five star performance. Here is the reaction to all of the goals. More on the way: Player ratings, post game quotes and a lengthy podcast.

Real Madrid went into the game against Valencia with several injuries to nailed-on starters. Kepa Arrizabalaga was out, Jude Bellingham was ruled out on Saturday with a shoulder problem, Aurelien Tchouameni was out, Antonio Rudiger suspended, just so many absentees. Andriy Lunin started in goal again, with Nacho Fernandez replacing Rudiger in defense, Dani Carvajal came back into the lineup to replace Lucas Vazquez.

The game started off very quickly as within three minutes Real Madrid scored their first goal of the match. Toni Kroos played a brilliant pass to Carvajal, whose first touch took out his marker, and then he unleashed a left-footed half-volley from outside the box. Great, great goal and what a way to start things off. Soon after, we saw Valencia make a few chances of their own, with Hugo Duro being on the receiving end of all of them. Two chances were very well saved by Lunin as continued to impress. Kroos then had a free kick that went off the post. Real Madrid were doing really well in terms of chance creation by drawing Valencia towards them before unleashing one long ball after another. The main players, though, were Rodrygo and Vinicius Jr., the latter scoring the second goal with a flying chest (?) from close range, following a great cross from Rodrygo. End of the first half, Kroos was phenomenal. Fede was explosive. Rodrygo and Vinicius were magical, creating beautiful chances for one another after every few minutes. The defense was not very good, but Real Madrid were happy that their attack was.

Second half started just like the first, with Vinicius grabbing his second of the game with a fierce near-post finish from outside the box, which meant another assist for his Brazilian counterpart. Quite literally a couple minutes later, Rodrygo scored his first of the night with a great finish following a hilarious error from Valencia inside their own box. Brahim grew into the game, combining so well with Vini and Rodrygo, showboating their way into Valencia’s half. Vini looked for his hat-trick plenty of times but missed a few chances and mistimed his run a couple of times. Castilla gem Nico Paz came on in the 81st minute, which made me very happy. Rodrygo scored his second of the night just a few minutes later with a really nice left-footed finish. It’s hard for Real Madrid to not concede these days, Hugo Duro scored a decent consolation goal for Valencia soon after, yet another cross. Regardless, the Bernabeu was electric, and Real Madrid moved back within two points of league leaders Girona.