Real Madrid emerged as the leader of Nuevo Mirandilla by beating Cádiz in a match in which Bellingham returned after his shoulder injury. The victory of the whites came in the most unexpected way. Rodrygo, affected by the matches in Brazil, was not going to play and in fact was not in the starting line-up that Ancelotti gave, but he had to appear on the pitch due to Brahim's stomach illness that took the Malaga native out of the eleven. Rodrygo scored two great goals and was without a doubt the man of the match. The first came at fourteen minutes and the second at 54. If the first half was more or less equal, Madrid was much superior in the second.
Rodrygo's first goal was a quality display. The Brazilian darted around the area, breaking free from threats from up to four defenders. He looked for space away from the goal and when he found it he fired a shot that beat Ledesma into the top corner.
Despite the return of Bellingham, it was a Madrid with a lot of patches due to the absence of undisputed starters like Vinícius or Camavinga. The retouching forced the return of the old guard to the midfield, with Kroos and Modric, the German as a means of containment.
Cádiz had not won in eight games and had also not played for twenty days because their last game, against Mallorca, had to be postponed. All in all, it was not a fearful team. Although he came out with a line of five defenders, perhaps forced by Rodrygo's early goal, he immediately stretched his lines and looked for Madrid in their field.
Madrid carried the weight of the game a little more in the first half, but did not have the capacity to finish the game. Once in the lead he created little danger with Joselu very disconnected from the game. The other two and not very clear opportunities were an attempted backheel by Bellingham and a tight shot by Kroos with little power.
The clearest chance was in the boots of Cádiz in a distant shot by Roger that was not a goal due to a great save by Lunin in a changed hand stretch. The Ukrainian goalkeeper seems more established in the position every day. We'll see what will happen next week against Naples when Kepa is recovered.
The second half began without a change of players. At 53 minutes, Madrid missed a second goal that seems impossible. A good pass from Bellingham put Rodrygo in front of the goal, his delayed cross left Joselu with only the need for a slight hit in front of the goal with no one in front of him, but the Galician did not touch the ball because he thought he was offside.
Madrid's strong start definitely took Cádiz ahead. Madrid went ahead and began to create chances. The first was a shot by Modric that hit the post, again with Ledesma beaten. Cádiz was no longer saved. The whites sealed it with two new goals, in the 64th and 74th, the second again in a personal action by Rodrygo closed with another great shot.
After a failure by Máxi Gómez against Lunin, the third for the whites arrived now with Rodrygo as Bellingham's assistant after a great ride. The Englishman did not miss his appointment with the goal and raised the score to 0-3, his eleventh goal in the league, an impressive mark.
Joselu failed to score 0-4, and had a very dark afternoon, and Ancelotti's carousel of changes came, bringing in players with few minutes such as Dani Ceballos, who reappeared from his injury, Fran García and Lucas Vázquez and also two castilistas: Nico Paz and Gonzalo, a young 19-year-old forward.
There was no more game except for a great final intervention by Lunin that prevented the home team's goal of honor. Madrid sleeps four points behind Barcelona and waiting for what Girona does today against Athletic in Montilivi. Neither the national team break nor injuries are stopping Ancelotti's Madrid at the moment.
