Jude Bellingham on target again as Real Madrid beat Villarreal

Harry Kane scored twice as Bayern Munich erased the memory of last weekend’s shocking 5-1 defeat at Eintracht Frankfurt with a 3-0 win over Stuttgart.

Pa Sport Staff
Sunday 17 December 2023 17:51 EST
Jude Bellingham scored his 17th goal of the season against Villarreal (Pablo Garcia/AP)
Jude Bellingham scored his 17th goal of the season against Villarreal (Pablo Garcia/AP) (AP)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Jude Bellingham struck his 17th goal of the season as Real Madrid returned to the top of LaLiga with a thumping 4-1 win over Villarreal at the Bernabeu.

Bellingham paved the way for the hosts to leapfrog previous leaders Girona – who face Alaves on Sunday – when he struck midway through the first half before Rodrygo doubled Real’s lead.

Jose Luis Morales reduced the deficit for the visitors but Real made sure of victory with further goals from Brahim Diaz and Luka Modric.

Real Sociedad stay in sixth place, just above rivals Real Betis after the two clubs ground out a goalless draw in San Sebastian, while the match between bottom club Almeria and Mallorca also finished goalless.

Chris Ramos scored a late equaliser as Cadiz sealed their fourth consecutive LaLiga draw against Las Palmas, for whom Pejino grabbed an early opener.

Inter Milan stretched their lead at the top of Serie A to four points after a 2-0 win over Lazio in Rome.

Lautaro Martinez pounced on a calamitous back-pass by home defender Adam Marusic to put his side in front and Marcus Thuram’s second-half effort sealed the points before Lazio had Manuel Lazzari sent off late on.

City rivals AC Milan strengthened their grip on third place as they coasted to a 3-0 win over Monza at San Siro.

A third-minute strike from Tijjani Reijnders paved the way for a comfortable victory, with Jan-Carlo Simic adding a second just before half time and Noah Okafor completing the scoring in the second half.

Bologna kept in touch in fourth place with a 2-0 win over Roma courtesy of Nikola Moro and a Rasmus Kristensen own goal, while a late Lucas Beltran effort saw Fiorentina edge struggling Verona 1-0, and Udinese and Sassuolo shared the points in a 2-2 draw.

Harry Kane scored twice as Bayern Munich erased the memory of last weekend’s shocking 5-1 defeat at Eintracht Frankfurt with a 3-0 win over fourth-placed Stuttgart.

Kane hit the opener after just two minutes and doubled his tally early in the second half before Kim Min-Jae completed the scoring for the revived hosts.

But Bayer Leverkusen maintained their four-point lead by succeeding where Bayern failed and thumping Frankfurt 3-0 at the BayArena, with goals from Victor Boniface, Jeremie Frimpong and Florian Wirtz.

Freiburg claimed a 2-0 win over struggling Koln who had Julian Chabot sent off for two bookable offences midway through the second half.

Paris St Germain were denied an eighth successive Ligue 1 win as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Lille at the Stade Pierre-Mouroy.

Kylian Mbappe’s 66th-minute effort looked set to send his side to another victory but Jonathan David fired home in the fourth minute of injury time to salvage a point and protect fourth place.

In-form Brest were 2-0 winners at Nantes, while Marseille laboured to a 2-1 win at home to bottom club Clermont.

Strasbourg won 2-1 at Lorient, Montpellier edged a 1-0 win at Metz, while Toulouse and Rennes battled out a stalemate.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in