Vinicius rescues Real Madrid from the brink to silence Valencia boo boys

A statement Vinicius Jr brace rescued a point for Real Madrid in a four-goal thriller that saw Valencia hit two in three minutes to stun the La Liga leaders as Jude Bellingham made his return from injury.

It was a game with highly charged emotions for both sides – Vinicius returning to the scene of his high-profile racist abuse in May 2023 but starting the game by applauding a ceremony to honour the 10 people killed by an apartment block fire in Valencia last week.

The Mestella crowd proved the difference from the first minute and were rewarded when a quick-fire double put Los Ches ahead – Hugo Duro providing the first after some dogged home play and a slice of luck before Dani Carvajal gifted Roman Yaremchuk another moments later.

Vinicius wasn’t to be outdone though – he gave the hosts a lifeline in the last seconds of the first half and celebrated with the Black power salute in front of the Valencia fans before heading his side level in the second half.

And that was how it stayed thanks to a late penalty being correctly overturned by VAR meaning Girona and Barcelona could cut Real’s advantage to four and six points respectively if they win tomorrow.