Vinícius Júnior scored a hat-trick to help Real Madrid snap a two-game winless run at the Bernabéu in all competitions with a commanding 4-0 victory over health.
After shock defeats by Barcelona and Milan, their first back-to-back home losses in over three years, Real suffered two major early blows against Osasuna as the forward Rodrygo and the defender Éder Militão were both forced off injured. The latter sustained an anterior cruciate ligament injury and will require surgery, the club later revealed. He will miss several months.
But on the day Carlo Ancelotti brought Brahim Diaz and the 21-year-old academy defender Raúl Asencio off the bench and his side kept calm, led by a brilliant performance from Vinícius. The Brazilian forward opened the scoring in the 34th minute after taking a Jude Bellingham pass in his stride to beat the offside trap and firing an unstoppable strike past Sergio Herrera. Bellingham recovered his scoring instinct by netting his first goal of the season with a brilliant lob eight minutes later.
Real’s stand-in right back Lucas Vázquez was also forced off but Vinícius extended the lead with a great goal in the 61st minute, running on to a long pass from his goalkeeper Andriy Lunin before rounding Herrera and tapping into the empty net. Eight minutes later, Diaz stole the ball from a distracted defender on the edge of the box and put it on a plate for Vinícius to fire home and wrap up a comprehensive win with his second hat-trick in four games.
Second-placed Real climbed to 27 points, six behind the leaders, Barcelona, who have played the same number of games and visit Real Sociedad on Sunday.
Bayern Munich earned a nervous 1-0 win at St Pauli thanks to a sensational 30-yard drive from Jamal Musiala to stay unbeaten atop the Bundesliga.
The Bavarians had the upper hand at the start but did not succeed in taming the hosts straight away. Promoted St Pauli looked confident and gradually became more aggressive, carving out a couple of chances of their own. As the hosts pushed for a goal, however, it was Bayern who struck in the 23rd minute.
Musiala won possession 30 yards out, took two steps and unleashed a ferocious shot that went in off the crossbar for his fifth league goal.
St Pauli turned out to be a tough nut to crack despite Bayern’s possession of more than 70%, waiting for their opportunity to hit the Bavarians on the break. Bayern did come close late in the game with first Musiala firing over the bar and then Harry Kane failing to beat the Bochum keeper from close range.
Bayern have 26 points, a lead of six from second-placed RB Leipzigwho were hosting Borussia Mönchengladbach later on Saturday. Eintracht Frankfurt, who visit Stuttgart on Sunday, are third on 17.
Koji Miyoshi scored an 89th minute goal to give struggling Bochum a 1-1 draw against the champions, Bayer Leverkusen. Leverkusen looked to be labouring to a 1-0 away win when Miyoshi struck from close range to level. Patrik Schick had bagged Leverkusen’s lead after he was sent through by Florian Wirtz with a superb ball and then threaded it through the legs of the Bochum goalkeeper, saw it hit the post and roll in for an 18th minute lead. Leverkusen are now nine points behind Bayern.
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Borussia Dortmund slumped to a 3-1 loss at Mainza fourth consecutive defeat on the road in the Bundesliga which increased the pressure on their coach, Nuri Sahin, whose team are playing well in Europe but are not able to earn points away from home in the Bundesliga.
Dortmund were left with 10 men in the 27th minute when Emre Can, under fire for his performances as captain, launched a reckless studs-up challenge for a straight red card. Lee Jae-sung soon put Mainz ahead and, while Serhou Guirassy equalised with a penalty, Jonathan Burkardt and Paul Nebel secured the points.
In Italy, the Turin derby is the headline game, as Juventus host Torino in the evening, after Milan visit Cagliari.
