Bellingham beats three men, Real Madrid are 3-0 up in 30 minutes and cruise past Málaga

Real Madrid have three wins from three. Málaga, back in the top flight, spent half an hour chasing the game and never got back into it.

Jude Bellingham opened it on 19 minutes, carrying the ball past three defenders before finishing. Seven minutes later a Madrid attack forced goalkeeper Alfonso Herrero into his own net. On 30, Kylian Mbappé volleyed in a Trent Alexander-Arnold cross for his fourth goal of the season. Arda Güler added a fourth in stoppage time.

Three goals in eleven minutes

The game was effectively over by the half-hour. Real Madrid had 19 shots to Málaga's 14, but the visitors' 14 attempts brought nothing — not one of them was on target. Madrid kept it calm too, conceding six fouls to Málaga's nine.

Match facts

• 19' — Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid)
• 26' — Alfonso Herrero (Málaga, own goal)
• 30' — Kylian Mbappé (Real Madrid)
• 90+1' — Arda Güler (Real Madrid)

What's next

Real Madrid began matchday 3 third on six points, inside the Champions League places; a third straight win takes them to nine and top of the table, with Barcelona able to join them when they play Rayo Vallecano on Monday. Málaga went into the round 16th on a single point and stay near the bottom. Both are back for matchday 4 after the international break.

A tougher three matches before this one

This ease at the Bernabéu followed two proper tests, not a stroll. Real Madrid needed until the 90th minute to see off Espanyol at Cornellà on matchday 2, Carlos Espí scoring the winner from close range after Cala had cancelled out an early Jude Bellingham header. Four days later Madrid finally played their postponed matchday-1 fixture against Real Sociedad, and Kylian Mbappé settled that one with a hat-trick in forty minutes — goals on 40, 60 and 80 — either side of a Vinícius Júnior strike, for a 4-1 win in front of 72,226 at the Bernabéu. Compared with those two, Málaga's visit was the first opponent all month that could not lay a glove on Thibaut Courtois's goal.

Málaga's uneven return to the top flight

Málaga's first month back among Spain's elite had already been a struggle before this trip to Madrid. Lee Kang-In's curling strike and a late Álex Baena free-kick beat them 2-0 on the opening weekend at the Metropolitano, and a week later they were held 1-1 at home by fellow promoted side Deportivo La Coruña, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scoring inside 21 minutes before Chupete equalised from the penalty spot. That Deportivo game produced 13 shots and eight corners for Málaga but only two efforts on target, and much the same profile followed them to the Bernabéu: 14 attempts on Real Madrid's goal, and not one of them on target.

The month closes: a first Madrid defeat, a first Málaga clean sheet

Real Madrid's run of three straight wins ended on matchday 4, away at Real Betis. Madrid again had the better of the shot count, 18 to 11, but Troy Parrott turned in a rebound off the crossbar in the 81st minute, a Carlos Espí equaliser was ruled out by VAR for offside, and Betis goalkeeper Álvaro Valles saved a stoppage-time Kylian Mbappé penalty — a 1-0 defeat that was Real Madrid's first competitive loss since José Mourinho returned for a second spell in charge. Málaga's next outing was closer to a result than the scoreline against Madrid suggested was coming: a goalless draw at home to Levante, in which goalkeeper Mathew Ryan saved a Málaga penalty inside the first ten minutes. It was the promoted side's first clean sheet of the season, even without a win to go with it.

Four rounds down, the table settles

Real Madrid go into the international break third in LaLiga on 9 points from four matches — three wins and that one defeat — level with Real Betis but ahead of them on goal difference, +7 to level, and three points behind leaders Barcelona, who have won all four of theirs. Málaga sit 17th on 2 points from four matches, still without a win, on a goal difference of -6; only Valencia, Celta Vigo and Elche, all on a single point, have taken fewer.