Rodrygo, Bellingham Fire Real Madrid To Win Over Brest

https://www.channelstv.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/AFP__20250129__36WM6RC__v1__Preview__FblEurC1BrestRealMadrid.jpg

Real Madrid, the champions of the competition, defeated Brest 3-0 on Wednesday to move up to the last 16, but Ronaldogo scored twice and Jude Bellingham once.

Bellingham doubled their lead early in the second half after a brave Brest side was denied an equalizer by a tight offside call. In the first half, Rodrygo opened the scoring for a Real side that was missing the suspended Vinicius Junior.

After Kylian Mbappe’s effort was saved, Rodrygo then sealed the victory late in the match.

In this new, expanded Champions League, Carlo Ancelotti’s side lost three of their first five games, which raises the possibility of being eliminated before the knockout phase.

Real Madrid’s Belgian goalkeeper #01 Thibaut Courtois gestures to supporters after Real Madrid won the UEFA Champions League, league phase – matchday 8 between Stade Brestois 29 (Brest) and Real Madrid CF at the Roudourou Stadium in Guingamp, north-western France, on January 29, 2025. (Photo by Damien MEYER / AFP)

However, they won three straight games and have now won five straight overall since beating Barcelona 5-2 in the Saudi Arabian Super Cup final on January 12.

Madrid had already secured a spot in the knockout phase and were a point better off than their opponents, but they were only 16th place overall.

Real and Brest will now have to come out of a two-legged play-off tie in February, with the draw taking place on Friday, because not enough other results did Real’s way to get them into the spots that offer a direct path into the last 16.

Much of the attention in Guingamp, Brest’s base for Champions League home games this season, was on Mbappe, with the France captain back in his home country.

Mbappe was yelled out loud both before and after the kick-off and throughout the entire game.

Despite being in excellent form and scoring eight goals in his last five matches across all competitions, he was unable to cap the scoring with a goal.

When Rodrygo cut into the box from the left and finished low over the goalkeeper and in off the far post to make Brest’s lead 1-0 just before the half-hour mark, the fans were silenced.

Six minutes later, when Ludovic Ajorque poked the ball home through a deflection, the French team believed they had equalized, but the celebrations were halted by a tight offside.

Real went on to win 2-0 after 56 minutes, with Bellingham breaking away before coming in the box to finish Lucas Vazquez’s low center.