Big-money signing Jude Bellingham played a starring role on debut for Real Madrid, who opened their LaLiga campaign with a 2-0 win over Athletic Bilbao.
LaLiga
Result: Athletic Bilbao 0-2 Real Madrid
Date: 12 August 2023
Venue: San Mames
Following the devastating injury to Thibaut Courtois, Andriy Lunin was handed a start between the sticks for Los Blancos while new signings Jude Bellingham and Fran Garcia were named in the starting line-up.
Bilbao have had a tough record against Los Blancos over the years, which has seen them fail to score in six of the last nine encounters between the two sides.
After a relatively quiet opening, Carlo Ancelotti's men found the breakthrough in the 28th minute as Rodrygo opened his account for the campaign after being set up by Dani Carvajal, who did well to win the ball high up.
The lead was doubled ten minutes before the halftime break as Bellingham marked his official debut with a goal when the Englishman got on the end of David Alaba's set-piece and sent a low finish past Unai Simon.
Bilbao responded with a triple change at the start of the second half, with Alex Berenguer, Ohian Sancet and Gorka Guruzeta all introduced in place of Nico Williams, Iker Muniain and Unai Gomez.
The Real injury list grew longer five minutes into the second half as defender Eder Miliato fell awkwardly and was replaced by Antonio Rudiger for the rest of the encounter.
Bilbao did manage to carve out a rare chance after 73 minutes when Sancet pounced on a loose ball before seeing his low strike deflected away by Alaba's outstretched leg in the box.
That proved to be the final real opening of the encounter, as Los Blancos were able to throw on Luka Modric and new signing Joselu as they saw out the latter stages to claim a clean sheet and three points.
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