Jude Bellingham thought he had scored the most dramatic of late winners for Real Madrid against Valencia but that was ruled out as the ball had gone over the line after referee Jesus Gil blew full-time.
The England midfielder protested and was sent off in chaotic scenes as Real Madrid players surrounded the referee and pushing and shoving with Valencia players ensued at the end of a dramatic 2-2 draw.
It was always going to be an emotional evening. It was Valencia’s first home match since an apartment fire in the city claimed ten lives. The dead were mourned and the firefighters who attended the blaze were honored before kickoff.
This was also Real Madrid’s first match at the Mestalla since last season’s match was marred by racist abuse directed at Vinicius Jr., with three Valencia supporters subsequently banned for life.
Jude Bellingham thought he had scored the late winner but his header was disallowed
The England star jumped on the end of a flying cross as the whistle blew for extra time
Bellingham couldn’t believe his goal – and Real Madrid’s three points – disappeared
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Following the abuse, Carlo Ancelotti and Vinicius had both upset Valencia supporters by claiming that the entire stadium was responsible. Both their names were loudly jeered when they were announced before kick-off.
“Vinicius, you’re so stupid,” the Valencia fans sang in minute eight. The abuse did nothing to slow him down, but as he headed towards his own goal he was partly to blame for Madrid falling behind after 23 minutes.
The first mistake was that of Fede Valverde. His unnecessary crossfield ball in his own half went to Javi Guerra, who broke forward. He played in the overlapping Dimitri Foulquier, but the hard-working Vinicius had followed him and got in front of him, depriving him of possession.
The only problem was he couldn’t get the ball out from under his feet and his momentum still carried him to the byline. Foulquier took over again and passed the back post, where Fran Perez’s scuffed cross shot was instinctively headed past Lunin by Hugo Duro for 1-0.
Madrid did not react well. They were slow at everything and even Tony Kroos gave the ball away. The next to lose possession was Dani Carvajal on the half hour and it cost his side another goal. He played a slow, under-hit long back pass to Lunin and Roman Yaremchuk ran over and rounded Madrid’s keeper to score.
Emotions ran high during the first half. For the first goal, Vinicius had wanted a penalty when he went down after Foulquier challenged him and when Jose Gaya said something to him he reacted angrily and had to be restrained by Bellingham.
As Madrid tried to get back into it, Vinicius pushed Pepelu over and when Madrid played on while the midfielder remained down, Valencia coach Ruben Baraja was furious on the touchline.
The Real Madrid superstar was quick to complain to Jesus Gil after disallowing the attack
He was later shown a red card for his troubles in chaotic scenes on Valencia’s Mestalla pitch
Hugo Duro opened the scoring for the home team after 28 minutes during the home match
Roman Yaremchuk (right) doubled the hosts’ lead less than three minutes after his goal
Immediately at half time, Vinicius was involved again as Madrid pulled a goal back. Carvajal sent over a deflected cross from the right that went past Rodrygo but was turned aside by Vinicius who had crossed for Cristhian Mosquera.
It was a goal in front of the goal where spectators had racially abused him last season and as he grabbed the ball from the net he appeared to say something to the supporters behind the goal. He trotted back to the halfway line from where he gave the Black Power sign while looking at the goal in which he had just scored.
On the restart, rain fell and Bellingham let Mosquera slide the wrong way on the wet grass as he changed direction with the ball in the penalty area, but Giorgi Mamardashvili saved with his legs.
Real Madrid completed its comeback with two goals thanks to Vinicius Jr. when he returned to the stadium this season
After scoring his first goal, the Brazil international raised his fist in a Black Power salute
He later added to his score in the second half as Real Madrid hunted for an equalizer
Vinicius then attacked Hugo Guillamon late on and was shown a yellow card, much to the delight of the Valencia supporters. However, they were not laughing in minute 75 when Vinicius nodded his team level.
Ancelotti had used both Luka Modric and Brahim Diaz and they combined well on the right. Brahim crossed and Vinicius headed the ball past the back post and past Mamardashvili.
This time he celebrated by covering his ear and doing almost half a lap of Mestalla – the message was whistle and laugh at me all you want; You want me to stop playing. With yellow he had to not exaggerate the celebration and get another card. The substituted Eduardo Camavinga tried to calm him down.
The atmosphere of the match changed drastically after Mouctar Diakhaby’s horrific accident
Players from both sides were shocked by the injury, which was confirmed as a broken leg
Christhian Mosquera could not watch as his teammate was taken away on a stretcher
Real Madrid withstood a late penalty after Duro was brought down in the penalty area towards the end of regular time
As the match reached an intense climax, the mood changed dramatically in the 88th minute when Aurelien Tchouameni fell to Mouctar Diakhaby and he went down. He was in the middle of a battle between players from both sides, but the reaction of those players told the story: he was seriously injured.
Tchouameni looked close to tears as the Valencia defender was gently helped onto a stretcher by medical staff who had been urged to get onto the pitch as quickly as possible as soon as the incident occurred. Others looked away from what appeared to be a broken leg.
The players were united in horror at what they had seen, but the unity did not last. The story still had a few chapters to complete. Duro suffered a dramatic fall when challenged by Nacho and Fran Garcia. Referee Gil pointed to the spot, but when he checked it next to the field, he saw that the attacker had slipped and changed his mind.
Then Real Madrid winger Peter Federico, who had just come on, had two shots to earn the victory: the first was saved, the second he fired over the top. Madrid went down the other end and got the winner. Only it wasn’t the winner. Time looked up when Madrid won a corner, but the referee let them take it. Brahim crossed from the kick and Bellingham headed past Mamardashvili. The celebrations were wild, but they only came after the final whistle.