Bellingham’s 50th Real Madrid goal was one of three before half-time, and Barcelona’s lead is down to three points

Real Madrid had the game at Racing Santander won by the 36th minute on Sunday. Kylian Mbappé scored a penalty, Jude Bellingham ran through for his 50th goal for the club, and Yan Diomandé volleyed in the third. The 3-0 win at El Sardinero cut Barcelona’s lead at the top of La Liga to three points.

Barcelona had gone six clear with their 6-1 win over Alavés on Saturday. Madrid are third on 27 points from 11 games, a point behind Atlético Madrid and three behind Hansi Flick’s side.

Three goals in 25 minutes

Madrid could have been ahead before the penalty. Arda Güler’s first-time shot skimmed the post in the seventh minute, and Racing goalkeeper Julen Agirrezabala kept a Bellingham header out on the line. Then a Racing player brought Mbappé down in the box, and Mbappé put the spot kick past Agirrezabala in the 11th minute.

Racing nearly hit back straight away. Iker Luque collected the ball at the edge of the area and shot, and Thibaut Courtois saved it. It was the only Racing attempt all afternoon that made Courtois work, a week after flu kept him out of the Clásico.

The second came midway through the half. Güler slipped a pass behind the defence, Bellingham ran on to it, went round Agirrezabala and rolled the ball into an empty net. That was his 50th Madrid goal in all competitions, in his 154th appearance. Nine minutes before half-time, a Güler corner was only cleared as far as Diomandé at the edge of the box, and he hit a right-footed volley into the top corner.

Madrid had not scored three in the first half of a La Liga away game since May 2024, when they put four past Villarreal.

Mbappé, six days after the Ballon d’Or

The penalty was Mbappé’s 12th league goal of the season. It came six days after Harry Kane was named the Ballon d’Or winner, and Mbappé did not play like a man brooding about it. He has now scored against all 24 teams he has played in La Liga, and that was his 18th La Liga penalty since the start of 2024-25. Nobody has scored more in that time; Ante Budimir also has 18.

He nearly had a second just after the hour, when a long-range shot came back off the post. Soon after, he put another one well over.

The penalty Racing didn’t get

Racing, back in La Liga this season after promotion, had more of the game after the break. With about 20 minutes left, referee José Luis Munuera Montero gave them a penalty for a handball by Aurélien Tchouaméni. He then went to the pitchside monitor and changed his mind. Bellingham thought he had a second goal in stoppage time, after a deflected Brahim Díaz shot fell to him, but he was offside.

Madrid finished with 22 shots and 3.45 expected goals to Racing’s ten shots and 1.15. It was their sixth win in a row in all competitions, and Racing stay 16th. Madrid travel to AEK Athens in the Champions League on Wednesday, kick-off 11:15pm IST.

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