Real Madrid 4-1 Villarreal: Player ratings as Bellingham scores in impressive win

Jude Bellingham scored his 17th goal of the season in Real Madrid's crucial 4-1 win over Villarreal in La Liga.

The England superstar opened the scoring for Madrid before goals from goals from Rodrygo Goes, Brahim Diaz and Luka Modric secured the three points at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Madrid's win sees them go top of theLa Liga table once again, with Girona set to face off against Deportivo Alaves on Monday evening.

As expected, Real Madrid dominated the opening exchanges of the game at the Santiago Bernabeu, with the midfield of Luka Modric, Toni Kroos and Federico Valverde expertly dictating the tempo of the game.

It would be the former of the trio who'd create the first opening of the game for Los Blancos in the 25th minute — an opening that would result in a goal for the home side. Modric's first time dinked cross into the back post area was brilliantly met by Jude Bellingham (who else?), and the England star made no mistake with his subsequent header — thumping it into the far right corner of the net.

12 minutes later, it was 2-0. The second goal was scored by the in-form Rodrygo Goes, who latched on to a loose ball in the Villarreal box to side-foot home his ninth goal in his last 11 appearances.

Madrid had been cruising in the game, controlling possession with relative ease, up until the 54th minute when Jose Morales raced onto a Dani Parejo and then fired under the body of Andriy Lunin and into the back of the net.

That goal woke Real Madrid up a bit and, ten minutes later, Brahim Diaz restored his side's two goal lead with a stunning goal. The diminutive forward oscillated past Aissa Mandi on the half-way line before racing into the penalty box where, with a quick drop of the shoulder, he slipped past Raul