A Jude Bellingham-inspired Real Madrid moved seven points clear of Barcelona and eight clear of Atletico Madrid with a thumping win over Villarreal, but delight at going back to the top of LaLiga was tempered by an ACL injury suffered by David Alaba.

‘Hey Jude’ was ringing around the Bernabeu as Bellingham scored the first to take his extraordinary tally to 17 in 20 games in all competitions but it was not all good news with Alaba taken off in the first half with a suspected cruciate ligament tear.

Bellingham has centre-forward numbers and he scored a centre-forward’s goal to break the deadlock on 25 minutes. Lucas Vazquez crossed from the right to Luka Modric who clipped a sublime ball into the middle and Bellingham powered a header past Filip Jorgensen.

Rodrygo doubled Madrid’s advantage 12 minutes later when Villarreal failed to clear Modric’s corner and the Brazilian swept the ball in from just inside the six-yard box – his ninth goal in the last 11 games.

Between the goals came that awful moment for Alaba. He was pressing Gerard Moreno from behind and appeared to badly twist his left knee. Nacho came on – he and Antonio Rudiger are now the last men standing in the centre of Real Madrid’s defence.

Jude Bellingham scored again as Real Madrid returned to the top of La Liga on Sunday

Midfielder headed in a superb cross from Luka Modric to put Real ahead in the 25th minute

Madrid’s first reaction was to say only that the injury looked bad but, shortly after the match, the club confirmed the defender ‘has been diagnosed with a rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee’.

It’s an injury already suffered this season by keeper Thibaut Courtois and centre-back Edu Militao and could force Madrid into the market for a reinforcement in January.

Villarreal were back in the game just short of 10 minutes into the second half when Jose Luis Morales ran in behind Antonio Rudiger on to a Ramon Terrats pass to make it 2-1. Morales has scored five goals in the league since Marcelino took over the team.

But the margin was two goals again on 64 minutes with a brilliant third for Real Madrid scored by Brahim Diaz.

He spun away from Aisa Mandi on the half way line and carried the ball into the penalty area where he sent Mandi’s central defensive partner Jorge Cuenca the wrong way before firing past Jorgensen.

The fourth came just four minutes later.

Etienne Capoue played the ball back into trouble and when Rodrygo’s shot was blocked it ran to Modric who buried it for his first goal of the season. Madrid were really in the mood now.

Bellingham had just been booked for doing nothing more than trying to shake off Adria Altimira who was trying to take the shirt off his back – his outstretched hand towards the face of the offender was punished in the same way as Altimira’s lengthy shirt pull.

Forward Rodrygo doubled Real Madrid’s lead with a close-range finish in the 37th minute

David Alaba limped off the pitch in the first half with what appeared to be a serious injury

When Bellingham went down moments later and the referee gave no foul he signaled to the crowd to raise the volumen – the match official Jorge Figueroa Vázquez seemed to perceive an attempt at some incitement and, offended, warned Bellingham that he could pick up a second yellow.

The England midfielder does not know the meaning of easing up and with the score at 4-1 he was still racing into every challenge.

Carlo Ancelotti took him off with 10 minutes left. Toni Kroos went too as Aurelien Tchouameni came back after six weeks out with a broken foot.

Former Blackburn forward Ben Brereton came on for Villarreal late on but the game was long gone and Real Madrid were back on top of La Liga albeit with Girona knowing that a win for them on Monday against Alaves will return them to the summit.