Nine points, zero goals conceded
Three rounds into the season, Real Madrid have not been scored against. Malaga, freshly promoted, were the third side to try, and they left the Bernabeu on the end of a 4-0 defeat on Sunday.
Espanyol and Real Sociedad had already been dealt with in the opening two weeks. Jose Mourinho’s second spell in Madrid could hardly have opened more comfortably.
Bellingham and Mbappe ran the attack. The Andalusians never once looked like changing the afternoon.
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Two shoulder drops and a finish across the keeper
Jude Bellingham opened it. He picked the ball up in central midfield, ran at the back line rather than around it, dropped two shoulders to lose his markers on the right side of the box, then slid a low right-footed shot inside the far post. The goalkeeper never moved.
It says a lot about where he is. Last season was flat by his standards. He came back from a strong World Cup and has been Madrid’s best player under Mourinho since the first whistle of the campaign.
Three games, three wins, an attack producing answers before anyone has needed to ask hard questions. That is the shape of this Madrid so far.
A lesson for the promoted side
Malaga came to learn something and duly did. Four conceded without reply, in week three of a top-flight return, is the kind of afternoon that sets expectations for the rest of the year.
Real stay perfect. Whether that holds through October is another matter, though the rest of Spain has received the message clearly enough.
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