Real Madrid Cruise Past Málaga 4-0 to Stay Perfect in La Liga
Real Madrid made it three wins from three with a 4-0 victory over promoted Málaga at the Santiago Bernabéu on 30 August 2026, moving two points clear at the top of La Liga.
Jude Bellingham set the tone inside 19 minutes. He picked the ball up deep, drove past three Málaga defenders, and fired low beneath goalkeeper Alfonso Herrero. It was the kind of goal that reminds you why the Bernabéu holds its breath every time he gathers pace in the final third.
The second was scrappier but no less damaging. Kylian Mbappé's effort was parried by Herrero, who then collided with a teammate while trying to clear Bellingham's headed rebound. The ball ended up in the net, officially recorded as an own goal against the Málaga keeper.
Mbappé then got one of his own in the 30th minute, meeting Trent Alexander-Arnold's cross with a crisp volley from the centre of the box. Alexander-Arnold, who arrived from Liverpool last summer, is already proving the kind of supply line Mbappé thrives on. The French striker's finish was clinical, the connection between the two telegraphic.
Málaga, freshly promoted back to Spain's top flight, held firm for the rest of regulation time but never seriously threatened a comeback. Substitute Arda Guler rounded things off in added time, feeding Vinícius Júnior before tapping in the return pass to make it four.
The result puts Real Madrid on nine points, two ahead of Atlético Madrid and Alavés. Barcelona sit fourth on six points with a game in hand, meaning the title race already carries an early points gap between the two giants.
There was also a historic afternoon in the Bundesliga, where Freiburg hammered Werder Bremen 4-1 thanks to a hat-trick from Yuito Suzuki. The Japanese forward had never scored more than once in a Bundesliga match before. Three in a single game, then, is a career milestone by some distance.
Schalke's return to the Bundesliga after promotion was far less kind. They lost 3-0 away to Augsburg and finished with ten men after Ron Schallenberg received a straight red card in the 62nd minute. Michael Gregoritsch, Anton Kade, and Rodrigo Ribeiro scored the goals, the last of which came in added time to rub salt in the wound.
Later that same evening, Napoli hosted Como and Inter travelled to Cagliari in Serie A's Saturday slate, as the new Italian season continued to find its rhythm.
For Real Madrid, the early-season statement is straightforward: three games, nine points, twelve goals' worth of momentum. For Málaga, the lesson is that the Bernabéu forgives nothing. (The Guardian, Channel News Asia / Reuters)
