Jude Bellingham missed a penalty but scored a late winner after Vinicius Jr. was sent off as 10-man Real Madrid fought back in the most dramatic fashion to beat Valencia 2-1 and return to the top of La Liga on Friday.
Luka Modric's 85th-minute equalizer and Bellingham's stoppage-time winner ensured Madrid avoided consecutive La Liga defeats for the first time since 2019.
The win took Los Blancos to 43 points, two above city rivals Atletico, albeit they had played a game more.
The match at Mestalla was second from bottom to second from top and it was the struggling home side who took the lead after 27 minutes. Hugo Duro put the ball into the empty net after it came back from the post.
Madrid came more into the game in the second half, but it looked like it would be a frustrating evening for the capital club.
Kylian Mbappe won a penalty after 55 minutes, but Bellingham spurned the chance with a woeful effort from twelve yards.
Bellingham's faltering effort from the spot could only find the post, with the nonchalant approach coming back to bite the England midfielder as Real trailed 1-0 near the hour mark.
Things seemed certain to go against Los Blancos after Bellingham's miss, when France captain Mbappe himself saw a goal disallowed after a video review.
Things got worse for Real with eleven minutes to go when Vinicius pushed goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski and the referee, after a lengthy video review, showed the Brazilian a red card.
Vinicius was outraged by the decision, after he had already protested his innocence to the referee and had to be restrained by his teammates.
Indeed, Antonio Rudiger was seen escorting the Brazilian forward off the pitch with a member of the Real Madrid staff, with Vinicius still shouting over his shoulder as he was dragged through the tunnel.
However, Real were never out of contention and Carlo Ancelotti's late substitutions changed the game.
Modric came on in the 80th and it took the 39-year-old Croatian just five minutes to reach his goal, dancing through a sea of defenders and pushing home the equalizer.
Even a man down there had a sense of inevitability as Real pushed for a winner, and after five minutes of extra time Bellingham made amends for his earlier miss.
Valencia defender Hugo Guillamon appeared to slip and put the ball into the path of the advancing Englishman, who made no mistake and only had to beat the keeper.
Even then the drama wasn't over. Valencia deserved to get something out of the match and Luis Roja almost got the equalizer with the last kick of the match.
He watched with pain as his long shot came back onto the post.
That left Valencia second from bottom, with their poor start to 2024-2025 continuing into the new year.
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