Vinicius Jr chipped in with Real’s third of the night after Bellingham had levelled and put the visitors in front.

Sergio Arribas’ early header had given Almeria the lead.

The £88.5m and various add-ons that could mean Real end up paying £115m for Bellingham already looks like money well spent.

The prodigiously talented former Birmingham City youngster has his peak years in front of him in the Spanish capital and has hit the ground running after switching from Germany’s Bundesliga.

“He is adapting very well to La Liga, to our style, he’s very good,” said Real boss Carlo Ancelotti.

After finding the net on his league debut at Athletic Bilbao, Bellingham again played a key role in driving Ancelotti’s side forward and ensuring they were comfortable winners in Andalusia.

Wearing the number five shirt once filled by Real icon Zinedine Zidane, Bellingham was in the right place at the right time to level the scores, picking up a fortuitous ricochet off home defender Chumi that dropped into his path to fire into the right corner.

He doubled his and Real’s tally on the hour mark, heading in from Toni Kroos’ pinpoint cross from the left.

Bellingham’s pass and movement gave Brazil forward Vinicius the opportunity to deftly round off the scoring and seal Real’s win.

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Lucas Vazquez was fouled by Largie Ramazani and Benzema converted from the spot to complete his first-half treble.

Victory sees second-placed Real Madrid move within eight points of leaders Barcelona.

Carlo Ancelotti’s side got back to winning ways before Real’s Champions League semi-final against Manchester City on 9 May.

Only Lionel Messi (474), Cristiano Ronaldo (311) and Zarra (252) have scored more goals in the Spanish top flight than the 35-year-old former France forward.

Almeria pulled a goal back in the dying seconds of the first half, with Ramazani atoning after conceding the penalty by crossing into the six-yard box for Lazaro Vinicius to finish.

Two minutes after the restart, Rodrygo fired a screamer into the top corner from outside the box.

Substitute Lucas Robertone headed in from a Francisco Portillo cross just after the hour mark as relegation-threatened Almeria put up a fight against the defending champions, but were ultimately overpowered.

Eduardo Camavinga and Rodrygo had diving headers ruled out for offside with Los Blancos unable to get their fifth goal of the thrilling contest.

Barcelona have the chance to restore their 11-point lead at the top when they face Real Betis this evening at 20:00 BST.

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Algeria midfielder, Yacine Brahimi hit the winner, holding off Martin Montoya before finding the net.

Granada keeper Orestis Karnezis pushed out Lionel Messi’s beautifully-flighted free-kick before saving at the feet of Sergio Busquets as Barca pressed.

Leaders Atletico Madrid will move four points clear of Barca if they win at relegation-threatened Getafe on Sunday.

And Barca will drop to third, with five matches remaining, if Real Madrid manage to beat second-bottom Almeria at the Bernabeu.

The Catalans knew they would provisionally move top of La Liga with a win that most expected them to earn at Granada.

But, despite enjoying over 80% of the possession, they were unable to cancel out Brahimi’s early opener, adding further misery to an already wretched week.

Fresh from their Champions League exit at the hands of Atletico, Barca found themselves trailing when the Algeria international outpaced Montoya before beating goalkeeper Jose Manuel Pinto with a powerful angled drive.

The visitors upped the tempo with Karnezis pushing Neymar’s curling effort wide and Cesc Fabregas having a shot blocked by Granada’s on-loan Liverpool defender Tiago Ilori.

After the break, Barca continued to pin back the hosts with an equaliser seemingly almost a matter of time.

But Gerardo Martino’s men could not find a way past Granada’s inspired goalkeeper Karnezis. The Greece international showed superb reactions to push away Fabregas’ first-time shot, before clawing out a 20-yard free-kick from the largely anonymous Messi.

Then, he bravely dived at the feet of Busquets in the six-yard box following a corner.

With Barca pouring forward, Granada almost netted a second in the final moments as Youssef El Arabi raced clear on the counter before being denied by Pinto in a one-on-one situation.

But it mattered little as Barcelona, who face Real Madrid in the Copa Del Rey final on Wednesday, suffered a second straight defeat.

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