MADRID: Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jr scored a hat-trick to help the La Liga champions snap a two-game winless run in all competitions with a commanding 4-0 victory over Osasuna on Saturday.

Following 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.

“I’m very pleased with the goals, but I feel sad that Militao has to go through that again,” said Vinicius.

Los Blancos’ clean sheet helped end a run of nine goals conceded in three consecutive home matches.

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 La Liga’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.

Later, in a statement released by Real they announced that Militao will undergo surgery after sustaining an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and is set to miss several months.

Ancelotti said that he will look for solutions inside the club until the transfer window opens in January.

“I’m not thinking about signings right now because we have to prepare for games with the players we have,” Ancelotti told a press conference.

“Three injuries in the first half is quite rare. The demanding schedule doesn’t allow the players to rest and be fresh.

“We will evaluate the situation in the coming months, the only thing we can do is try to recover as many players as possible. We will see in January what happens.”

Earlier, Villarreal, third, continued their strong start to the season with a comfortable 3-0 home victory over Deportivo Alaves.

Ilias Akhomach, who was later taken off injured, Dani Parejo with a penalty and substitute Santi Comesana struck for the hosts.

Villarreal’s match against Rayo Vallecano last weekend was postponed because of the devastating flooding in the Valencia region after a huge storm.

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2024