Jude Bellingham double maintains Real Madrid’s winning start to LaLiga campaign

By Sports Desk August 19, 2023

Jude Bellingham was on target twice as Real Madrid came from behind to beat Almeria 3-1 and maintain their winning start to the new season of LaLiga.

Sergio Arribas had the hosts in front in the third minute of Saturday evening’s contest but England midfielder Bellingham – who netted in the opening day win at Athletic Bilbao – levelled the scores 16 minutes later.

After Tony Kroos had seen an effort ruled out for VAR at the end of the first half, former Birmingham midfielder Bellingham put Real ahead on the hour and Vinicius Junior made it 3-1 with 17 minutes remaining.

Athletic Bilbao were 2-0 winners at Osasuna, with goals inside the first 20 minutes from Inaki Williams and Gorkua Guruzeta doing the damage. The hosts had substitute Chimy Avila dismissed late on.

Real Sociedad and Celta Vigo drew 1-1, with Oscar Mingueza earning the visitors a point in the last minute after Ander Barrenetxea had opened the scoring for Sociedad midway through the first half.

In Italy, champions Napoli opened with a 3-1 win at Frosinone, with Viktor Osimhen on target twice.

Abdou Harroui’s seventh-minute penalty had newly-promoted Frosinone ahead but Matteo Politano and Osimhen turned things around by half-time, before the latter sealed the points with 11 minutes remaining.

Lautaro Martinez netted in each half as Inter Milan beat Monza 2-0 at San Siro, while substitute Federico Bonazzoli got the only goal 15 minutes from time as Verona – who survived last season with victory over Spezia in the relegation play-off – won at Empoli.

Fiorentina were 4-1 victors at newly-promoted Genoa, with Cristiano Biraghi, Giacomo Bonaventura, Nicolas Gonzalez and Rolando Mandragora making the points safe before Davide Biraschi replied for the hosts.

A late penalty from Zakaria Aboukhlal earned Toulouse a 1-1 draw with Ligue 1 champions Paris St Germain.

Kylian Mbappe, absent from the squad for the opening-weekend goalless draw with Lorient after a dispute over his future left him training separately from the first team, came off the bench to score a penalty just past the hour mark.

However, Aboukhlal’s spot-kick meant a second successive draw for the capital club.

Lyon are propping up the table after a 4-1 home loss to Montpellier. Mousa Al-Taamari (2), Arnaud Nordin and Akor Adams were on target for the visitors, with Alexandre Lacazette getting a red card for Laurent Blanc’s struggling hosts having netted their only goal of the game when they trailed 3-0.

In the opening round of Bundesliga action, Donyell Malen’s 88th-minute goal gave Borussia Dortmund a 1-0 win over Cologne.

Augsburg and Borussia Monchengladbach shared eight goals in a 4-4 draw, while there were also wins for Bayer Leverkusen, Freiburg, Wolfsburg and Stuttgart.

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