Jude Bellingham said he “owed” his Real Madrid teammates the winning goal after missing a penalty earlier in their 2-1 comeback win at Valencia in LaLiga on Friday.
Hugo Duro put the home side ahead at Mestalla, before Bellingham failed to convert a second-half spot kick, hitting the post.
Madrid suffered another setback when VinÃcius Júnior was sent off for striking Valencia goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski, but responded when Bellingham set up Luka Modric to equalize, before scoring a 95th-minute winner himself following a defensive error.
The victory leaves Real Madrid top of the LaLiga table, two points ahead of rivals Atlético Madrid, and five points clear of Barcelona.
“A crazy, crazy game,” Bellingham told Real Madrid TV afterwards. “I owed the team this goal, to be honest. It’s so difficult when the team works so hard, you have a penalty, you miss, I felt like I was letting the team down in that moment. I had to regain that focus. These things happen in a game, penalty misses, red cards, it can happen. My teammates were amazing, they told me to keep going and that’s what I did.”
Bellingham was the key player in Madrid’s second-half fightback. Four minutes after missing the penalty, he also played in Kylian Mbappé for a goal which was disallowed for a narrow offside.
“It’s a team effort,” Bellingham said. “It’s the team that does everything. Kylian’s pressure for the [winning] goal, it comes to me and all I have to do is slot it home. This is the character you have to show. That’s the Real Madrid we want to see … When this badge is on your shirt, you don’t give up.”
Madrid will next travel to minnows Deportiva Minera on Monday in the Copa del Rey third round, before flying to Saudi Arabia to take part in the Spanish Supercopa.
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