Real Madrid's Jude Bellingham praised for getting back to his best by Spanish press after win over Rayo Vallecano

Real Madrid's resurgence under Jose Mourinho continued on Saturday evening as Los Blancos produced a commanding La Liga performance, cruising to a 4-1 triumph against Rayo Vallecano.

An electric first 45 minutes saw Kylian Mbappe, Alvaro Carreras and Jude Bellingham fire Real Madrid into a 3-0 lead, with Sergio Camello pulling one back for Vallecano before Mbappe sealed the 4-1 win in stoppage time.

Although Mbappe understandably received the majority of the plaudits for scoring a brace and registering an assist, Bellingham once again impressed, continuing his excellent start to the season and earning plenty of praise from the Spanish media.

What have the Spanish media said about Bellingham?

Bellingham was given an 8/10 rating from VAVEL, who described the attacking midfielder as having an excellent game, particularly highlighting his intervention in multiple attacking plays.

Bellingham's goalscoring form was also highlighted, with the midfielder's goal already marking his third strike in five La Liga appearances, with VAVEL saying the England international appears to have rediscovered the goalscoring instinct from his first season at Santiago Bernabeu.

That has been reported several times during Bellingham's fast start to the campaign, which has seen the 23-year-old score three and assist two goals in five league games, with Antena3 reporting after the 4-0 win against Malaga that Bellingham's performance "reminds us of that first year".

Meanwhile, AS opened their assessment of Bellingham's performance against Rayo Vallecano by stating that he was the "axis of the team", with all of Real Madrid's transitions and attacks passing through the midfielder.

What did Mourinho say about Bellingham?

Head coach Jose Mourinho did not directly praise Bellingham, but his comments demonstrated just how important the England international is to Real Madrid.

Mourinho said his side had a plan to finish the game in the first 45 minutes, which they certainly did with a 3-0 lead at the break, with the head coach saying "I knew that the team did not have the physical or mental strength to play the second half like the first."

The Portuguese singled out Bellingham as the perfect example of that, saying "Bellingham has played without energy for the last 10 minutes. Energy is not only physical, but also mental."

Speaking further about his team's performance, Mourinho said "what we are doing, at the moment, has many positive things and we are gradually trying to always improve."