Bellingham lights up Madrid in the victory against Girona | Soccer | Sports

Nothing lasts too long for Real Madrid. He has been looking for ways to escape the mist for four months and when a player lights a torch he falls and disappears. In Girona, Bellingham put the spotlight back on, illuminated the route by which his team emerged from Girona’s traps, scored for the fifth consecutive game after the initial 11-game drought in the League and was injured. One more, after Rodrygo hours before the match, shortly before also losing Mendy. But until he sat on the grass touching his left thigh, the Englishman boosted Madrid and in his wake appeared what could be Mbappé’s awakening. The Frenchman was reunited with the goal after insisting and, after losing in Bilbao, Real reached just two points with one game less.

Until the Englishman emerged, Girona controlled the scene with that wild soul of the last season that they have recovered. He went after Madrid, and Madrid, even at low revs, once again found problems at the start. While he was trying to get his bearings, he saw how Girona was hitting him from the wings. Especially on the right, where Lucas Vázquez and Arda Güler took time to clarify themselves with the arrivals of Miguel Gutiérrez and Bryan Gil. The winger, an attacker who causes danger anywhere, and the winger alternated attacks and stepped on the baseline very early. The defense watched and they placed the ball in Courtois’s area, where the finishers did not arrive in time.

On the other hand, Asprilla’s electricity was worrying, the most insistent on testing the Belgian goalkeeper. Watched by Mendy, who returned to the eleven in place of Fran García, the Colombian did not need to reach the bottom to cause concern. He has a shot and also has a lot of venom with crosses into the area that close in on the far post.

It was difficult for Madrid to stretch. And it came with a more aggressive plan than other nights. He tried to press very high, with a more dedicated Mbappé. Little by little they managed to make Girona doubt. Little by little Bellingham also appeared as an axis around which the team gains time and order. The Englishman is the owner of Madrid’s emotional switch. When they spent too much time defending, he would grab the rebel flag and drag the troops forward. When they got stuck in fruitless attacks, he rolled up his sleeves to accelerate and agitate between the lines.

But Madrid’s awakening was slow. It still doesn’t handle the electrical register with which it started. He chews positional approaches while waiting for Mbappé to finish fine-tuning the car. The Frenchman moved more, although the first races were deactivated by David López and Krejci, very fast. But he insisted. Real grew as Modric and Bellingham appeared. The Englishman saw Brahim entering the area, and the man from Malaga dribbled all the way and kicked the ball back to a group of defenders. Miguel left her half dead in the area and Bellingham hunted her down, arriving lethally. The Englishman holed out between the legs of Oriol Romeu and Gazzaniga.

Girona’s enthusiasm was deflating and Madrid played more and more comfortable, exasperating and wearing down Míchel’s platoon, which conceded the blows it had avoided at the beginning. Modric put a free kick in the area, Tchouameni, this time central instead of Asencio, headed back and Gazzaniga saved by extending his left hand. But Bellingham ended up destroying the party, of course. He turned in the center of the field and saw Güler running through the center. The Turk was right in the one-on-one, the luck that eludes Mbappé.

The Frenchman finally got one of the complicated ones right, a heeled shot from the right that made it 0-3. With that aftertaste, Madrid will go on Tuesday to visit Atalanta, leader of Serie A, in the Champions League. Also with that of the fall of Bellingham, the last beacon.