Real Madrid 2-0 RB Leipzig: Fede Valverde scores again to help Carlo Ancelotti’s champions win

Fede Valverde scored his second goal in two games to help Real Madrid to a 2-0 win over a spirited RB Leipzig.

It wasn’t as good as his strike at the weekend when he ran half the pitch to score, but it was another reminder that an already very well-rounded midfielder is adding regular goals to his game.

The Fede express only arrived 10 minutes an hour and that changed the mood at the Bernabeu. Madrid fans were spoiled by the spectacular last season and they were bored by a lukewarm first half for the home side.

The Uruguayan midfielder came in from the right and bent a left-footed shot into the net

They even booed Marco Asensio when he came on in the second half. He got the second goal to turn whistles into applause.

Vinicius started the move for the opener, crossing from the left. Rodrygo ran on the ball for Valverde who came in from the right and bent a left-footed shot past Leipzig keeper Peter Gulacsi.

Valverde at least deserved to be on the winning side. He had been exceptional throughout a night when Madrid missed Karim Benzema in attack and the death of Toni Kroos, left on the bench until late.

A half-time lead for Leipzig would not have been undeserved. Timo Werner found Christopher Nkunku with an overhand pass midway through the first half and it nearly brought the opening goal.

He was played alongside Dani Carvajal and refined Thibaut Courtois’ goal. A combination of the Belgian keeper and Aurelien Tchouameni thwarted it but the midfielder had crushed Courtois and the keeper held his knee for several nervous seconds.

Werner worked his magic again ten minutes before the break and his pass across the face of the six-yard box was so nearly returned by Nkunku sliding to the back post. There was no news from Madrid in attack.

Without Benzema still injured, Carlo Ancelotti had started with Rodrygo on either side of Valverde and Vinicius. But the front three were well contained and with Luka Modric overpowered in midfield and Kroos on the bench, Madrid were flat.

Rodrygo looked a wide header and Modric sent a shot from the edge of the area towards the same billboard behind Gulacsi’s goal. But there wasn’t much else.

Modric wanted a penalty just before the break but Emil Forsberg had enough on the ball and not enough on the player to warrant a kick according to referee Mauricio Mariani.

At the hour mark, Ancelotti has seen enough and brought in Asensio for Eduardo Camavinga. The Bernabeu whistled and mocked the incoming player.

Marco Asensio (centre) was booed as he came on but scored the second in stoppage time

Asensio had thrown away a bib out of frustration as an unused substitute in the second half of Madrid’s win over Mallorca. That, and the apparent desire to move on this summer, hadn’t been forgotten.

The change almost worked immediately. Valverde broke with his own half and squared off for Rodrygo. He played Vinicius and when Gulacsi saved the ball it went out to Asensio but he chose to lob delicately and his effort cleared the crossbar.

Valverde combined delicacy and raw power to break the deadlock and when Asensio got a redeeming second, everyone on the Madrid side, even the substitute, was happy.

Elsewhere in Group F, Celtic drew 1-1 against Ukrainian side Shakhar Donetsk in Warsaw, with Ange Postecoglou’s Hoops taking the lead via an Artem Bondarenko own goal before Mykhaylo Mudryk nudged past. equalizes.