Emmanuel LANGELLIER, Media365, published on Friday January 3, 2025 at 11:55 p.m.
Real Madrid scored an incredible victory in Valencia (2-1), Friday evening in a late match of the 12th day. He took the opportunity to take control of the championship.
Anticipated for many weeks, the match between Valencia and Real Madrid gave rise to an incredible scenario on Friday evening. Initially planned for the beginning of November and postponed after the natural disaster which struck the Valencia region, the meeting on the 12th day of La Liga resulted in a victory for the Merengue at the last breath, or almost. But who could have predicted such an outcome when Carlo Ancelotti's men were down 1-0 since the 27th minute (goal from Hugo Duro) and reduced to ten men in the 79th minute at Mestalla? The expulsion of Vinicius Junior, starter in attack with Kylian Mbappé and Rodrygo, for an ugly gesture, ultimately did not have any unfortunate consequences for the club in the white jersey (in orange on Friday), on the contrary.
Bellingham misses a penalty and gives victory in added time
Five minutes later (84th), Real Madrid got back together thanks to a sumptuous outside left foot from Luka Modric, who came into play for just 4 minutes in place of Dani Ceballos, starting alongside Federico Valverde and Jude Bellingham, great man of the meeting. After missing a penalty half an hour earlier (55th), the Englishman offered an unexpected victory to the Madrilenians in added time. So good until then, the French defender of Valencia, Dimitri Foulquier, put his teammate Hugo Guillamon in difficulty, under the threat of three Madrilenians, which benefited Bellingham, providential scorer with the right foot (90th + 5).
Mbappé gets a penalty and is denied a goal
Thanks to this victory, Real, who were almost caught in the 90th + 10 (Rioja post), achieved a nice achievement, after having come close to a 3rd defeat in La Liga. It takes the reins of the Spanish championship with 2 points ahead of Atlético de Madrid (which has a game in hand) and 5 lengths better than FC Barcelona. As for Kylian Mbappé, he will have to wait to record his 11th goal in La Liga. Highly visible against Sevilla FC (4-2) at the end of 2024, the Frenchman obtained the penalty that Bellingham missed, and thought he had equalized a few minutes later. But, after a good sequence, his right-footed goal was finally refused for a slight offside (59th).
