Endrick needed only 10 minutes to make an impression in his debut with Real Madrid.
The Brazilian teenager replaced Kylian Mbappe late in the match and scored deep into stoppage time to seal Madrid’s 3-0 win over Valladolid on Sunday.
The goal saw Endrick, at 18 years and 35 days, become the youngest foreign player to score for Madrid in the Spanish league, surpassing Frenchman Raphael Varane, who was 18 years and 152 days old when he scored in 2011.
“He’s looking very good and he has a lot of potential,” Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said of Endrick. “He has shown his quality very quickly with his control and he’s got a very powerful shot. He’s a center forward and very dangerous in tight spaces.
“He’s a spectacular forward, very fast, moves well without the ball, attacks in behind, he had three or four chances (which were) created with his movement,” said Ancelotti.
“In this position, he will score like he always scores, I don’t think he needs to play from the left, in the center he will score goals.”
It was the first league win for defending champion Madrid after it opened with a 1-1 draw at Mallorca the previous weekend.
Mbappe scored in Madrid’s UEFA Super Cup win over Atalanta at the start of the season, but has yet to find the net in his first two league matches. The France star was making his debut at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium as a Madrid player.
Federico Valverde had put Madrid ahead in the 50th, and Brahim Diaz added to the lead with a breakaway goal in the 88th.
Endrick replaced Mbappe in the 86th, and scored six minutes into stoppage time with a low shot into the near corner after slipping past the defense and into the area.
“He deserves it,” Valverde said of Endrick. “He has to keep working, he still has a long way to go with this club, he should keep working hard because he deserves it.”
Endrick was only 16 when he was sold to Madrid by Brazilian club Palmeiras for more than 40 million euros (around $45 million), plus add-ons, in 2022. He stayed with Palmeiras until he turned 18, before arriving at Madrid in time for this season. Madrid had already done similar deals with Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo, who are now regular starters with the Spanish club.
Endrick was an unused substitute in the team’s first two matches this season, against Atalanta in the UEFA Super Cup and at Mallorca.
Without the injured Jude Bellingham, Madrid created little in the first half, but did enough after the break to earn its first win of the season.
Still lacking fluency in attack, Ancelotti’s side stays two points behind rival Barcelona, which beat Athletic Bilbao on Saturday.
“We were too slow in the first half, the second half we were much more active, there was more movement, and we were much faster with the ball,” said Ancelotti.
Real Valladolid set out to frustrate the champion in the summer heat and, for 45 minutes, succeeded in doing so.
Madrid came out with more bite in the second half, though, and Valverde smashed home a vicious low freekick with the help of a deflection to break the deadlock.
Atletico on song
Antoine Griezmann, Marcos Llorente and Koke’s strikes helped Diego Simeone’s Atletico claim its first win of the campaign against Girona.
Julian Alvarez started for the Rojiblancos at their Metropolitano stadium, while new arrival Conor Gallagher made his debut from the bench after joining from Chelsea.
“The fans were really excited for this one, playing at home for the first time in some time, with new signings — a perfect night,” said Griezmann.
The host had control of the game as Michel Sanchez’s Girona, which finished third ahead of fourth-place Atletico last term, struggled to make an impact.
Griezmann put Atletico ahead shortly before the interval with a hard and low freekick, which caught out goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga.
Llorente increased the lead early in the second half with a thunderbolt from outside the area that flashed into the roof of the net.
Girona, which lost several key players in the summer, has only one point from its first two matches.
Koke wrapped up Atletico’s win in a stoppage time counterattack, when Llorente put the ball on a plate for him to finish.
“It’s a process. The season is long, but we want to get to our best version as soon as we can,” said Girona midfielder Oriol Romeu.
Barcelona defeated Athletic Bilbao 2-1 on Saturday, starting the season with a second consecutive win. Celta Vigo, which defeated Valencia 3-1 on Friday, has also opened its campaign with two wins.
Agencies