MADRID: Vinicius scored a hat-trick as Real Madrid ended a run of two high profile defeats by defeating Osasuna 4-0. However victory came at a heavy cost as Eder Militao suffered a crucial ligament injury to exacerbate the European and Spanish champions’ injury crisis.

Madrid revived after shock defeats by Barcelona and AC Milan, their first back-to-back home losses in over three years, despite losing not only Militao early on but also forward Rodrygo.

Manager Carlo Ancelotti brought Morocco forward Brahim Diaz and 21-year-old academy defender Raul Asencio off the bench and his side kept calm led by a brilliant performance from Vinicius.

The Brazilian forward opened the scoring in the 34th minute after taking a Jude Bellingham pass in his stride to beat the offside trap and firing an unstoppable strike past goalkeeper Sergio Herrera.

Bellingham recovered his scoring instinct by netting his first goal of the season with a brilliant finish eight minutes later, lobbing the ball over the goalkeeper to extend Real’s lead.

Real’s stand-in right back Lucas Vazquez was also forced off but Vinicius extended the lead with a great goal in the 61st minute, running on to a long pass from his goalkeeper Andriy Lunin before rounding Herrera and tapping into the empty net.

Eight minutes later, Diaz stole the ball from a distracted defender on the edge of the box and put it on a plate for Vinicius to fire home and wrap up a comprehensive win with his second hat-trick in four games.

Vinicius is now second in LaLiga’s top-scorer race with eight goals in 12 games, six behind Barcelona’s Robert Lewandowski.

Second-placed Real climbed to 27 points, six behind leaders Barcelona. Osasuna are fifth on 21 points.

Militao will miss several months for the second consecutive season on becoming the second Madrid player to suffer an ACL injury this season, after full back Dani Carvajal.

A club statement said: “Following tests carried out today on our player Eder Militao by the Real Madrid Medical Services, he has been diagnosed with a complete rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament with involvement of both menisci in his right leg. Militao will undergo surgery in the coming days.”

Real were already without key players Carvajal, Thibaut Courtois, Aurelien Tchouameni and David Alaba.

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