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Consistently denied a spot in the side by the brilliance of Jude Bellingham, Brahim Diaz has been waiting for his chance to impress. On Wednesday night, with Bellingham rested, he took it. The Spaniard bagged a goal, was unfortunate to see another ruled out, and pulled the strings in the Englishman's usual role as Los Blancos cruised to a 3-0 win over Braga.
The visitors were handed a golden opportunity to take the lead early, when Lucas Vazquez dragged Cristian Borja down in the box — only for reserve goalkeeper Andriy Lunin to keep out the ensuing penalty.
Diaz thought he had opened the scoring shortly after, but saw his calm finish ruled out for a foul in the build up. There was nothing wrong with the next time he had the ball in the net, though. The attacking midfielder ghosted into the box to meet Rodrygo's cutback, and handed his side a deserved 1-0 lead.
He should have made it two in the second half, but was brilliantly denied from close range by Matheus. Vinicius made no such mistake after 58 minutes, slotting home to complete a smooth counter-attack. Rodrygo added a third two minutes later, receiving Vinicius' pass in stride and delightfully chipping over Matheus, sealing a comfortable win.
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