Real Madrid 3-0 Cadiz: Ancelotti's side on brink of clinching LaLiga title
Jude Bellingham added to his goals tally for the season as Real Madrid eased to a 3-0 win over Cadiz in LaLiga.
Goals from Brahim Diaz, Jude Bellingham and Joselu earned LaLiga leaders Real Madrid a 3-0 win over lowly Cadiz.
Carlo Ancelotti's side will seal a record-extending 36th Spanish title later on Saturday if Barcelona fail to beat Girona.
With four games remaining, Real climbed to 87 points and extended their lead to 14 points over second-placed Barcelona and 16 clear Girona in third.
Ancelotti made 10 changes to the team that earned Real a 2-2 draw in their Champions League semi-final at Bayern Munich on Tuesday, resting key players like Vinicius Jr, Rodrygo, Antonio Rudiger and Toni Kroos ahead of the return leg at the Spanish capital on Wednesday.
Ancelotti's second-string players proved they were up to the task as they secured three points for Real and kept them on course for the inevitable LaLiga title celebrations.
The match also marked goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois' first start of the season after an ACL tear in August left him sidelined for most of the campaign.
Real almost fell behind after the break, with Courtois making a brilliant reflex save to block Christopher Ramos' point-blank strike in the 50th minute.
The Belgium goalkeeper's effort sparked a quick counte-attack for Real, with Luka Modric finding Diaz running up the left channel and the Morocco midfielder managed to slot in a perfect curling strike from the edge of the box in the 51st minute.
Diaz then assisted substitute Bellingham to score with a tidy finish from close range in the 68th minute before Joselu tapped into an empty net in a counter-attack started by Real captain Nacho in added time.
Data Debrief
Diaz both scored and assisted in a single LaLiga game for Real Madrid for the first time, while it is the first time he has done so in a league game since May 2023 for Milan in Serie A.
Madrid have now kept 18 clean sheets in the Spanish top flight this season - only in 1986-87, 1987-88 and 2019-20 (19 in each) have they kept more.