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Jude Bellingham Scores 4th Goal in 3 Games to Give Real Madrid 1-0 Win at Celta

Real Madrid's English midfielder #5 Jude Bellingham (C) celebrates his goal with Real Madrid's Spanish defender #06 Nacho Fernandez and Real Madrid's Austrian defender #04 David Alaba during the Spanish Liga football match between RC Celta de Vigo and Real Madrid CF at the Balaidos stadium in Vigo on August 25, 2023. (AFP)
Real Madrid's English midfielder #5 Jude Bellingham (C) celebrates his goal with Real Madrid's Spanish defender #06 Nacho Fernandez and Real Madrid's Austrian defender #04 David Alaba during the Spanish Liga football match between RC Celta de Vigo and Real Madrid CF at the Balaidos stadium in Vigo on August 25, 2023. (AFP)
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Jude Bellingham Scores 4th Goal in 3 Games to Give Real Madrid 1-0 Win at Celta

Real Madrid's English midfielder #5 Jude Bellingham (C) celebrates his goal with Real Madrid's Spanish defender #06 Nacho Fernandez and Real Madrid's Austrian defender #04 David Alaba during the Spanish Liga football match between RC Celta de Vigo and Real Madrid CF at the Balaidos stadium in Vigo on August 25, 2023. (AFP)
Real Madrid's English midfielder #5 Jude Bellingham (C) celebrates his goal with Real Madrid's Spanish defender #06 Nacho Fernandez and Real Madrid's Austrian defender #04 David Alaba during the Spanish Liga football match between RC Celta de Vigo and Real Madrid CF at the Balaidos stadium in Vigo on August 25, 2023. (AFP)

Jude Bellingham did it again, scoring a fourth goal in three games to lead Real Madrid to a 1-0 win at Celta Vigo on Friday and make it three victories in as many games in the Spanish league.

Madrid’s top signing of the offseason scored once in the team’s 2-0 win at Athletic Bilbao in their opener and twice in the 3-1 win at Almeria last weekend.

The England midfielder joined Madrid on a 130-million-euro ($142 million) move from Borussia Dortmund this summer, and is proving to be worth the price.

At Vigo, Bellingham slipped into the area and was in position to head home the winner in the 81st minute and snatch a victory against a Celta side that had squandered its scoring chances.

Bellingham was set up by Joselu Mato, who replaced Vinícius Júnior in the 16th minute, after the Brazil forward picked up an apparent leg injury.

Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said Vinícius would undergo tests to determine the extent of the injury.

Celta goalkeeper Ivan Villar saved Rodrygo’s penalty in the 68th after the goalie had fouled the forward in the area after he was played through by a pass from Bellingham.

Iago Aspas almost scored two minutes later for the hosts, only to scuff his shot wide.

Celta's American player Luca de la Torre was substituted late, after he was attended by team doctors on the pitch. He walked off on his own power.

Newly signed goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga started for Madrid, with Andriy Lunin going back to the bench. Kepa arrived to help make up for the absence of injured regular starter Thibaut Courtois.

Celta remained winless in three games since Rafa Benítez took over as coach this summer.

Also, Real Sociedad drew 0-0 with Las Palmas.

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Raducanu Is Back at the US Open and the 2021 Champion Doesn’t Question Whether She’s Ready

Emma Raducanu of Great Britain returns the ball during a practice session prior to the start of the 2024 US Open at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on August 22, 2024 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Getty Images/AFP)
Emma Raducanu of Great Britain returns the ball during a practice session prior to the start of the 2024 US Open at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on August 22, 2024 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Getty Images/AFP)
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Raducanu Is Back at the US Open and the 2021 Champion Doesn’t Question Whether She’s Ready

Emma Raducanu of Great Britain returns the ball during a practice session prior to the start of the 2024 US Open at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on August 22, 2024 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Getty Images/AFP)
Emma Raducanu of Great Britain returns the ball during a practice session prior to the start of the 2024 US Open at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on August 22, 2024 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Getty Images/AFP)

Emma Raducanu finished up practice at the US Open on Friday by hitting with a young girl she asked fans on social media to help her find after they couldn't connect a day earlier.

Raducanu is back at the tournament she surprisingly won three years ago, and she shrugs off questions about whether she’s played enough matches to be ready for it.

Her 2021 US Open title is still Raducanu's only one on the WTA Tour, and she didn't even play in Flushing Meadows last year because of injuries. The 21-year-old from England has played fewer than 30 matches this year and passed up chances to be more active, but doesn't second-guess her preparation for the final Grand Slam of the season.

“Even when I won the US Open, I only played a few tournaments that year,” Raducanu said. “Yes, they were closer together, but I’m not in any big rush to play those. I think I’d rather target tournaments and play the tournaments that I’m entered in.”

After losing in the fourth round of Wimbledon in July in her home Grand Slam, Raducanu chose not to play in the Olympics and made just one appearance on the North American hard-court swing, losing in the third round in Washington.

She decided not to play in Canada — where she was born and holds a passport — and then opted to return to Britain to practice, rather than attempt to play any more tournaments ahead of her return to New York, where she will face 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin in the first round.

While some players crave match time, Raducanu said that just isn't her.

“I don’t think I’ll ever be the player who’s playing, like, close to 30 events a year,” she said. “I think that’s not my style. It never has been.”

She couldn't play too many matches in 2023, missing the second half of the year after undergoing surgery on both wrists and an ankle. So her only appearance at the US Open after becoming the first player to come through qualifying to win a Grand Slam tournament in 2021 was a first-round loss to Alize Cornet the following year.

Raducanu said she feels more ready to play in New York this time and got in some extra practice Friday with a 7-year-old fan who had watched her a day earlier and yelled out that Raducanu was her favorite player. Raducanu apologized on social media later that she had to rush off after that workout and they couldn't meet, asking followers to help her find the girl.

She did Friday, and invited the fan down to hit with her on the court.

“She barely missed a ball and she has a lot of courage to kind of go onto the court with a lot of people watching and start hitting balls, and it was nice to meet her and speak to her,” Raducanu said. “Obviously I felt incredibly bad about yesterday but I feel good and I feel happy that I was able to connect with her today.”

Raducanu knows that critics of her career choices question whether she's ready to win the US Open. Seeing her name on the trophy and her picture among the champions on the grounds reminds her she has — and can again.

“I think that’s such an epic achievement and these two weeks I completed it,” she said. “So for me coming back here now, I come back with such a different outlook and just joy and promise, and it inspires me to want to do more.”