Bellingham's late goal sees Real Madrid back to 10-man Valencia

J.ude Bellingham missed a penalty but scored a late winner and 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 the table. La Liga on Friday.

Luka Modri's 85th-minute equalizer and Bellingham's injury-time winner helped Madrid avoid back-to-back La Liga defeats for the first time since 2019.

The win took them to 43 points, two more than city rivals Atletico, despite playing one more game.

The match at the Mestalla pitted the bottom runners-up against the top runners-up and it was the struggling home side who took the lead after 27 minutes. Hugo Duro sent the ball into the empty net after it came back off the post.

Madrid entered the game more in the second half but it was shaping up to be a frustrating evening for the capital club.

Kylian Mbappé won a penalty after 55 minutes, but Bellingham's shot hit the post and moments later the Frenchman himself had a goal disallowed after video review.

Things got worse for Real 11 minutes from time when Vinicius pushed goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski and the referee, after a lengthy video review, showed the Brazilian a red card.

However, Real are never far behind and Carlo Ancelotti's late changes turned things around.

Modri ​​came on in the 80th and it took just five minutes for the 39-year-old Croatian to make his mark, dancing through a sea of ​​defenders and equalizing.

Even with a man down, there was a sense of inevitability as Real pushed for a winner, and five minutes into injury time Bellingham made up for their earlier failure.

Valencia defender Hugo Guillamón appeared to slide and place the ball into the path of the advancing Englishman, who made no mistake with only the keeper to beat.

Even then, the drama was not over. Valencia deserved to get something out of the match and Luis Roja almost equalized with the last kick of the match. He watched in anguish as his long-range shot returned to the post.

Valencia remained second from bottom.