Three goals before the interval
Nineteen minutes was all Real Madrid needed to set the tone. Jude Bellingham collected the ball outside the box, ran at the Malaga back four and finished from the right side of the area. By the time the teams walked off at the Santiago Bernabeu this afternoon it was 3-0, and the visitors had not registered a shot on target.
The second came shortly after the first, credited to Bellingham after a Kylian Mbappe effort was blocked into his path. Mbappe then took a Trent Alexander-Arnold cross on the volley with fifteen minutes of the half remaining. Madrid closed the opening 45 with more than 60 per cent of the ball and four shots on target.
Arda Guler, left out of the starting eleven, came on late and scored in stoppage time less than a minute after stepping onto the pitch. Four-nil in matchweek three, and Madrid go top of LaLiga.
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Mourinho rotated, and it held
Jose Mourinho named an almost entirely new back line. Antonio Rudiger, Alexander-Arnold and Marc Cucurella all made their full debuts. Eduardo Camavinga came in for Bernardo Silva, with Brahim Diaz starting and Guler held back for the bench.
Three games, three wins, no defeat: the numbers behind Mourinho’s second spell in Madrid are about as clean as a manager could ask for after three rounds. Mbappe’s volley was his fourth league goal in three appearances this season, arriving days after his hat-trick against Real Sociedad.
Malaga had one moment in the 85th minute, when a free-kick led to a handball call and a penalty. VAR judged the arm close enough to the body and the decision was reversed. That was as near as they got.
Two clubs heading in opposite directions
The Andalusians are still without a win after three matches back in the top flight under Juan Francisco Funes. They lost 2-0 at Atletico Madrid, drew 1-1 with Deportivo La Coruna, and now this. The clubs had not met since 2018, when Madrid won 2-1 through Isco and Casemiro, and Madrid have taken 25 of the last 34 meetings between them.
Madrid travel to Real Betis on Friday. Malaga host Levante next Sunday, still hunting a first win of the season.
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