After more than a month out, Antonio Rüdiger makes his comeback. The Royals temporarily overtake FC Barcelona to first place.
Real Madrid, with the comeback of national player Antonio Rüdiger, has increased the pressure on FC Barcelona in the distant duel for the Spanish championship.
Coach Álvaro Arbeloa’s team won 4:1 (3:1) against Real Sociedad San Sebastian on Saturday evening and temporarily took the top spot in the Spanish La Liga. Rüdiger was back on the pitch for the first time since early January after recovering from a knee injury.
Antonio Rüdiger (r.) made his comeback after more than a month out
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Gonzalo Garcia gave the Royals an early lead (5th minute). After the equalizer by Mikel Oyarzabal (21st minute), Real only needed a few minutes for the appropriate response: Vinicius Júnior converted a penalty (25th minute), then Fede Valverde (31st minute) increased the lead to 3:1.
At the start of the second half, the Brazilian Vinicius Júnior, who had recently been repeatedly criticized by his own fans, decided the match with his second penalty (48th minute). Superstar Kylian Mbappé was given a rest.
Rüdiger returns
Rüdiger was substituted after an hour; Former Bayern star David Alaba came on for the central defender. Rüdiger had played his last competitive match on January 8th in the Supercopa against city rivals Atlético, and last weekend he had already returned to the squad against FC Valencia (2:0). The appearance against San Sebastian was only his ninth of the season.