It didn’t take long for Jude Bellingham to register his first competitive goal for Real Madrid, as the England midfielder helped his new team to a comfortable 2-0 win over Athletic Bilbao in their first La Liga game of the season.
Rodrygo had already put Los Blancos ahead as Carlo Ancelotti saw his men turn in a professional display at San Mames.
Athletic shaded the first 15 minutes or so, but Real went close when Federico Valverde sent a dipping shot just over the crossbar.
WIth 20 minutes gone, Jude Bellingham – making his first competitive start for Real – played in Rodrygo, who drew a smart save from Unai Simon.
Otherwise, though, the visitors lacked fluency, trading misplaced passes with their opponents.
Then, just before the half-hour mark, Real went ahead with a bolt from the blue.
Rodrygo cut in off the right flank and played a clever one-two with Dani Carvajal, bursting into the box before beating Simon at his near post.
Bellingham doubled the visitors’ lead soon afterwards, latching on to a corner delivery from David Alaba with a bouncing shot which looped over Simon and into the back of the net.
He celebrated with arms thrown wide, drawing deafening boos and whistles from the home fans.
Athletic tried to find a foothold in the second half but to no avail, their best chance coming via Alex Berenguer when, having capitalised on a mistake from Toni Kroos, he got in behind only to be denied by a timely intervention from Aurelien Tchouameni.
The only blemish as far as Carlo Ancelotti was concerned was a serious-looking injury to Eder Militao, who went down in agony after slipping in a challenge and had to be helped from the field.
