Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jr scored a hat-trick to help the LaLiga champions snap a two-game winless run in all competitions with a commanding 4-0 victory over Osasuna on Saturday.
This follows shock defeats by Barcelona and AC Milan, their first back-to-back home losses in over three years.
Real suffered two major early blows against Osasuna as forward Rodrygo and defender Eder Militao were both forced off injured.
Manager Carlo Ancelotti brought Morocco forward Brahim Diaz and 21-year-old academy defender Raul Asencio off the bench and his side kept calm led by a brilliant performance from Vinicius.
The Brazilian forward 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
Real’s stand-in right back Lucas Vazquez was also forced off but 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.
“I don’t want to touch this subject (the injuries), because it hurts me to see colleagues crying… It breaks my heart…” Diaz, who missed over six weeks this season with a thigh injury, told Real Madrid TV.
“We won convincingly,” Diaz added. “We played a complete game, with hard work and effort. The victory was needed. Now we have to continue at this high level, because we have talent.” (Reuters/NAN)
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