Topics: Real Madrid, Jude Bellingham, Toni Kroos, La Liga
Toni Kroos reserved special praise for Jude Bellingham after Real Madrid completed a dramatic comeback against Almeria – and the latter has since responded with a message of his own.
Carlo Ancelotti's side were on course to record one of the surprise results of the season on Sunday, when goals from Largie Ramazani and Edgar Gonzalez gave winless Almeria a 2-0 lead at half-time.
But a resurgent Los Blancos managed to secure all three points in the most dramatic of circumstances. Jude Bellingham converted from the penalty spot with 57 minutes before Vinicius Junior levelled the tie.
And deep into injury time, full-back Dani Carvajal converted from close range to keep the pressure on La Liga leaders Girona.
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Check out those remarkable scenes from the Bernabeu below.
Jude Bellingham, who once again played a crucial role in their victory, notching an assist for Carvajal's winner, took to Instagram after the game. He wrote: "This club. This stadium. This team. Different! #HalaMadrid."
A short time later, the often hard-to-please Toni Kroos responded to Bellingham's post by saying: "This mentality with 20 is another level."
The 20-year-old midfielder, who has scored 18 goals goals in 25 games for Real Madrid this season following his £88.5 million move from Borussia Dortmund, hit back with the comment: "Learning from the best."
Kroos is just one of many to have praised the in-form Bellingham this season. Back in November, Carlo Ancelotti said the Birmingham-born midfielder is "a gift for football."
He added: "It's surprising. I don't think anybody could have imagined his adaptation to this style of football, to this club. He surprises every day, in every game. Not just us, he's surprising everybody.
“His coach and his team-mates are delighted with him, and the fans are delighted with him, but everybody is delighted to see a player with this potential and this positive image."
Bellingham has, however, got one thing to work on. "He's adapted well to the dressing room but he has to improve his Spanish," the italian smiled. "As I've said many times, nobody is perfect!"
Real Madrid will be hoping to leapfrog current league leaders Girona on Saturday afternoon, when they come up against Las Palmas.
