Vinicius brace earns Madrid comeback draw against Valencia 

Vinicius Junior was Real Madrid’s saviour, as the Los Blancos came back from two goals down to salvage a draw against Valencia at Mestalla Stadium on Saturday.

After a lukewarm start to the game, Madrid found themselves trailing by two goals within minutes. The game’s opener came somewhat luckily in the 27th minute, as Fran Pérez’s off-target shot found Hugo Duro unmarked, allowing the 24-year-old to swiftly put his side ahead.

Four minutes later, Valencia doubled their lead when Dani Carvajal’s pass to Andriy Lunin was intercepted by Roman Yaremchuk who bypassed his Ukrainian compatriot before calmly slotting the ball into an empty net.

A few seconds before halftime, Madrid pulled one back through Vinicius who responded swiftly and perfectly to tap in Carvajal’s deflected cross.

The opening minutes of the second half saw both teams fight valiantly, with Jude Bellingham—who’s only just returning from injury—denied a glorious opportunity from close range.

In the 76th minute, however, Brahim Diaz’s well-timed pass found Vinícius unmarked at the back post, allowing the Brazilian to head into an empty net and complete the comeback.

Referee Manzano blew the final whistle at the same moment Bellingham put the ball in the back of the net, leading to the goal being discarded and the Englishman being shown a red card for his protests.

The draw means Real Madrid lost the opportunity to open a nine points gap between themselves and Girona who could reduce the gap on the log’s summit to four points should they defeat Mallorca on Sunday