Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior celebrates after scoring his side’s fourth goal during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Madrid and Osasuna at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, Spain, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Breton)
Real Madrid went back to winning ways after a shock 1-3 loss to AC Milan in the midweek as Vinicius Jr scored a hattrick in a 4-0 win over Osasuna on Saturday. This was also Real’s first match in the league after getting demolished by Barcelona 2 weeks ago while last week, their match against Valencia had to be postponed due to flash floods in Spain.
The game was riddled with injuries for Real Madrid as Rodrygo, Lucas Vazquez and defender Eder Militao were forced off but Vinicius kept things in control with his three strikes.
It marked a uptick in the fortunes of the Brazilian forward, who came second to Manchester City’s Rodri in the Ballon d’Or which led to him and his club no showing at the awards ceremony.
On Saturday, Vinicius 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 goalkeeper Sergio Herrera.
Bellingham recovered his scoring instinct by netting his first goal of the season with a brilliant finish eight minutes later, lobbing the ball over the goalkeeper to extend Real’s lead.
Vinicius 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 Vinicius to fire home and wrap up a comprehensive win with his second hat-trick in four games.
Vinicius is now second in LaLiga’s top-scorer race with eight goals in 12 games, six behind Barcelona’s Robert Lewandowski.
Second-placed Real climbed to 27 points, six behind leaders Barcelona. Osasuna are fifth on 21 points.
(With agency inputs)
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First uploaded on: 09-11-2024 at 22:17 IST
