Vinícius Júnior wrestles Real Madrid to victory while Atalanta crush Lazio
The Real Madrid forward Vinícius Júnior came off the bench to fire his side to a scrappy 1-0 home victory over Real Valladolid in La Liga as the champions found a way to win despite failing to sparkle.
The Brazilian, who replaced the ineffective Luka Jovic, fought to win the ball back on the edge of the area and after it bounced into his path off a Valladolid defender he kept his composure to break the deadlock in the 65th minute. Zinedine Zidane’s side, who lost Eden Hazard to injury on the day of the game and were also without the Toni Kroos, again lacked fluidity in attack in their third match of the season but just about deserved the win.
“The win tastes good because this was not a simple night for us,” Zidane said. “We knew we would suffer and have a difficult game but at least we’ve got the points. We weren’t brilliant but we’ve only just started the season, so we need to stay calm and be patient because we know little by little we’re going to improve.”
Atlético Madrid were unable to break down Huesca and had to settle for a 0-0 draw as Luis Suárez drew a blank in his first start for the club. Suárez went closest to breaking the deadlock when he sprinted on to a through ball to go one-onone with Huesca’s Andrés Fernández in the second half but failed to successfully dribble around the keeper. Diego Simeone’s side continued to bombard the hosts but kept being thwarted by Fernández, who got low to deny João Félixin the final minute. The draw brought Atlético back down to earth after their 6-1 win over Granada.
In Serie A the Atalanta captain Papu Gómez scored twice in an impressive 4-1 win for the Bergamo side away to top-four rivals Lazio. Robin Gosens put the visitors in front after 10 minutes before his fellow wing-back Hans Hateboer blasted home a second. Gómez then drilled home a finish to give Atalanta a commanding half-time lead, but Felipe Caicedo pulled one back in the second half. However, Atalanta’s Argentinian captain scored a spectacular fourth to put the result beyond doubt, as he drilled an unstoppable shot into the top corner from a tight angle.
Two goals from Romelu Lukaku helped Internazionale to a 5-2 victory at promoted Benevento on Wednesday as the Serie A title contenders notched their second win in a row. The Belgian striker fired the visitors in front after 28 seconds and Inter soon raced away as a Roberto Gagliardini strike and Lukaku’s second put them three up before the half-hour mark. Benevento pulled one back through Gianluca Caprari, but Achraf Hakimi’s first goal for Inter since his move from Real Madrid restored their three-goal cu
shion before half-time. The substitute
Lautaro Martínez scored with a neat finish after the break before Caprari notched his second to earn Pippo Inzaghi’s side a consolation. Inter are one of four Serie A teams to have picked up maximum points from their opening two games, along with Napoli, Hellas Verona and Milan.
Spezia won 2-0 at Udinese with two goals from their Bulgarian striker Andrey Galabinov.