WATCH LaLiga LIVE on beIN SPORTS | Sign up to take advantage of our 7-day FREE TRIAL here | AU | NZ

This was a game that had been postponed earlier in the season because of flooding in the Valencia region, and for large parts of the match, it seemed the hosts would cause an upset as it start the new year under new coach Carlos Corberan.

Indeed Hugi Duro put the home side ahead, tapping in after Javi Guerra had seen his shot saved by Thibaut Courtois, and on the balance of play it was the least Los Che deserved after dominating proceedings.

The score remained 1-0 at the break as Madrid failed to spark into life, despite having Vinicius, Jude Bellingham and Kylian Mbappe all in its starting XI.

It seemed fortune was favouring the brave hosts as the second half wore on as well. A harsh penalty decision after Mbappe was apparently fouled in the box saw Bellingham step up to take the spot-kick, but his casual effort hit the post and was cleared.

Mbappe then thought he'd provided the equaliser when he slotted home after an assist from Bellingham, but the Frenchman was caught marginally offside by VAR and his effort was chalked off with half an hour remaining.

Things unravelled further for the visitors when Vinicius, after missing an opportunity inside the box, reacted to Stole Dimitrievski's banter with a shove to the Valencia goalkeeper's face, an incident that was missed by the on field referee but caught by VAR.

After a check on the pitchside monitors, the Brazil forward was shown a red card, and had to be manhandled down the tunnel as he looked to square up to the referee in a fit of rage with just 11 minutes left on the clock.

Carlo Ancelotti chose that moment to bring on veteran Luka Modric, and the move paid off five minutes later when a swift exchange of passes around the Valencia penalty area ended with Bellingham sliding the ball into the Croatian's path, and he slotted home an equaliser despite Valencia's man advantage.

The hosts then started to clam up and a fatal mistake at the back saw Bellingham leap on to a poor backpass and fire past Dimitrievski for the winniner in the fifth minute of stoppage-time.

That wasn't the end of the drama, though, as Luis Rioja drifted in from the right in the 100th minute of play, firing off a superb shot that smashed against the inside of Courtois's right post with the Belgian goalkeeper completely beaten, and bounced kindly across the face of the goal to safety ensuring Madrid held on for the win.

Real Madrid leads Atletico Madrid by two points at the top of the table with 43 points, but has played one game more than its cross-city rival, which doesn't play its first LaLiga game of 2025 until 13 January (AEDT).

While Ancelotti was pleased with the comeback, he criticised his side's first-half performance.

"It's difficult to explain how bad we were in the first half and how good we were in the second, and with a man down," Ancelotti said.

"We deserved three points, but we can't show these two sides. Tremendously bad in the first half, tremendously good in the second with 10 men."

Ancelotti was pleased with Bellingham's ability to redeem his performance, but was irked at his side having failed to score three of its past four spot kicks.

"It bothers me that we missed three penalties, I think I have to take responsibility for choosing who is going to take the penalty," he said.

"Bellingham didn't lose faith after missing the penalty, it gave him extra motivation. His last 30 minutes can only be done by him. He made an extraordinary effort."

The main negative of the evening from a Madrid perspective was the red card for Vinicius.

"We think it wasn't a red card ... But the team reacted to this difficulty. We are going to appeal, I don't know if they will accept it," Ancelotti said.