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Jude Bellingham thought he had scored the most dramatic of late winners for Real Madrid against Valencia but it was ruled out because the ball had crossed the line after referee Jesus Gil had blown for full-time.
The England midfielder protested and was sent off in chaotic scenes as Real Madrid players surrounded the referee and pushing and shoving with Valencia players ensued at the end of a dramatic 2-2 draw.
It was always going to be an emotional night. It was Valencia’s first home game since an apartment block fire in the city claimed 10 lives. The dead were mourned and the firefighters who attended the blaze were honoured before kick-off.
This was also Real Madrid’s first game back at Mestalla since last season’s fixture was marred by racist abuse aimed at Vinicius Jr with three Valencia supporters subsequently banned for life.
After the abuse, Carlo Ancelotti and Vinicius had both upset Valencia supporters by claiming the whole stadium had been responsible. Both their names were loudly jeered when announced before kick-off.
‘Vinicius how stupid you are,’ sang the Valencia fans on minute eight. The abuse did nothing to slow him down but running towards his own goal he was part culpable for Madrid going behind on 23 minutes.
The first mistake was Fede Valverde’s. His unnecessary crossfield ball in his own half went to Javi Guerra who broke forward. He played in the overlapping Dimitri Foulquier but the hard-working Vinicius had tracked him and got infront of him robbing him of possession.
The only problem was he couldn’t get the ball out from under his feet and his momentum was still carrying him, and it, to the byline. Foulquier took over again crossing it to the back post where Fran Perez’s scuffed cross-shot was instinctively headed past Lunin by Hugo Duro for 1-0.
Madrid did not respond well. They were slow to everything and even Tony Kroos was giving the ball away. The next to lose possession was Dani Carvajal on the half hour and it cost his team another goal. He played a slow under-hit long back pass to Lunin and Roman Yaremchuk ran on to it and rounded the Madrid keeper to score.
Tempers had flared throughout the first half. Before the first goal Vinicius had wanted a penalty when going down after Foulquier challenged him and when Jose Gaya said something to him he reacted angrily and had to be held back by Bellingham.
With Madrid trying to get back into it Vinicius pushed Pepelu over and when Madrid played on while the midfielder stayed down Valencia coach Ruben Baraja was furious on the touchline.
Right on half time Vinicius was involved again as Madrid pulled a goal back. Carvajal sent over a deflected cross from the right which went beyond Rodrygo but was turned in side-footed by Vinicius who had got in front of Cristhian Mosquera.
It was a goal in front of the end where spectators had racially abused him last season and as he picked the ball out of the back of the net he appeared to say something to supporters behind the goal. He trotted back to the half way line from where he gave the Black Power sign while facing the goal he had just scored in.
The rain came down at the restart and Bellingham left Mosquera sliding in the wrong direction on the wet turf as he changed direction with the ball in the penalty area but Giorgi Mamardashvili saved with his legs.
Vinicius then went in late on Hugo Guillamon and was booked to the delight of the Valencia supporters. They were not laughing on minute 75 though when Vinicius nodded his team level.
Ancelotti had brought on both Luka Modric and Brahim Diaz and they combined well down the right. Brahim crossed and Vinicius headed the ball down at the back post and past Mamardashvili.
This time he celebrated cupping his ear and almost doing half a lap of Mestalla – the message was whistle and jeer me all you want; you want stop me playing. On a yellow he needed to not overdo the celebration and be carded again. The substituted Eduardo Camavinga tried to calm him down.
With the game reaching an intense climax, the mood changed dramatically on 88 minutes when Aurelien Tchouameni fell into Mouctar Diakhaby and he went down. He was in the middle of a scrum of players from both sides but the reaction of those players told the story – he was seriously injured.
Tchouameni looked close to tears as the Valencia defender was carefully helped onto a stretcher by medical staff who had been urged to get onto the pitch as quickly as they could as soon as incident happened. Others looked away from what looked like a leg break.
The players were united in horror at what they had seen but the unity did not last. The story still had several more chapters to play out. Duro went down dramatically when challenged by Nacho and Fran Garcia. Referee Gil pointed to the spot but saw, when he checked it pitchside, that the forward had slipped and so changed his mind.
Then former Real Madrid winger Peter Federico, who had just come on had two shots to win it – the first was saved, the second he put over the top. Madrid went down the other end at got the winner. Except it wasn’t the winner. Time looked up when Madrid won a corner but the referee let them take it. From the kick Brahim crossed and Bellingham headed past Mamardashvili. The celebrations were wild but they had come after the final whistle.
Olivia Martin is a dedicated sports journalist based in the UK. With a passion for various athletic disciplines, she covers everything from major league championships to local sports events, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis.
