Bellingham seals dramatic Clásico win for Madrid
Real Madrid battled back to win 2-1 at Barcelona in a dramatic El Clásico in LaLiga on Saturday thanks to a second-half brace by top scorer Jude Bellingham who continues to impress with his superb form.
The 20-year-old Englishman has made his transition to Spanish football look ridiculously easy, with 13 goals and three assists in 13 games in all competitions since joining from Borussia Dortmund.
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On Saturday, he led Madrid’s fightback after Barcelona had opened the scoring in the sixth minute through midfielder Ilkay Gündogan who took advantage of a bad defensive mistake by the visitors.
Barca were punished for failing to convert their dominance into more goals as Bellingham made the most of the two chances he had in the second half.
First, he unleashed an unstoppable strike from range into the upper left corner in the 68th minute and then, in stoppage time, he scored the winner after collecting a Luka Modric pass inside the box.
“Even a draw would be unfair for us after the game we had; they looked like they’d surrendered and then came those disgraceful blows to shock us. It’s a shame,” Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez told DAZN.
“We dominated for 60 minutes but this is football… Real Madrid have these things… Real Madrid score two goals with the three or two-and-a-half chances they have.”
Barca dominated the first half and Gündogan found the ball at his feet for an easy tap-in after Madrid’s Aurélien Tchouaméni passed backwards to centre-back David Alaba who barely reached the ball.
Fermín López, who hit the post in the 15th minute, and forward João Félix were a constant menace to Madrid’s defence and created several chances to score, with the visitors arguably lucky to go into the break only one goal down.
Andreas Christiansen headed on to the post after the break and goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga made a brilliant save to deny Barca from a Ronald Araújo close-range strike.
Madrid started to find their mojo after manager Carlo Ancelotti brought Eduardo Camavinga and Modric off the bench and Bellingham once again shone under the spotlight.
Los Blancos are top of the standings on 28 points, level with Girona. Barca are third on 24, two ahead of Atletico Madrid, who have two games in hand.
