Jude Bellingham grabbed Real Madrid an exciting 3-2 Clasico win over champions Barcelona on Sunday to put them 11 points ahead in La Liga with six matches left.
Los Blancos came from behind twice, with Vinicius Junior and Lucas Vazquez scoring to equalize Andreas Christensen and Fermin Lopez's goals. Then Bellingham scored the winning goal in stoppage time, almost ensuring his team the title.
Barcelona, in second place, put up a strong performance after being knocked out of the Champions League by Paris Saint-Germain, but Bellingham destroyed their last effort.
Madrid showed the same determination as they did against Manchester City in the midweek on the way to the final four in Europe, before Bellingham's decisive goal left the Santiago Bernabeu crowd thrilled.
The English player, Madrid's top scorer with 21 goals in all competitions, scored twice in Madrid's Clasico win over Barcelona in October and is performing well in his first season in Spain.
“We had a great night with our fans, something we all deserved, we took a huge step towards La Liga,” Vazquez, crucial in all three Madrid goals, told Real Madrid TV.
“We’ve had a very good season, we’re on a very good path, now we just have to polish it off and we’ll go for everything.”
Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti made three changes from the side that defeated City, with Eduardo Camavinga moving to left-back instead of Ferland Mendy, and Luka Modric starting in midfield.
Madrid's penalty-saving hero against City, goalkeeper Andriy Lunin, made an early mistake, allowing Barcelona to take the lead.
The Ukrainian goalkeeper strayed from his position to deal with a corner but failed to reach the ball, and Christensen headed it into the empty net.
However, Madrid quickly leveled through Vinicius, who missed a good chance but then equalized from the penalty spot.
Vazquez evaded Joao Cancelo too easily and was fouled in the area by 17-year-old Barca center-back Pau Cubarsi.
Vinicius scored from the penalty spot for his 19th goal of the season in all competitions.
Barcelona continued to advance down their right side with Lamine Yamal causing problems for Camavinga.
– ‘Disgrace’ –
The 16-year-old thought he had scored with a clever flick from a corner but Lunin saved the ball, and Barcelona argued that it had already crossed the line.
La Liga does not use goal-line technology, and with VAR, the officials could not confirm if the ball had fully entered the goal, leaving the Catalans frustrated.
“We deserved much more given the way we played but there’s not much we can do,” said Xavi.
“(Not having goal-line technology) is a disgrace.”
Yamal appealed for a penalty minutes later when Camavinga fouled him in the area, but the referee dismissed their claims.
Raphinha and Ilkay Gundogan both narrowly missed free-kicks, with Barcelona only scoring one since Lionel Messi left in 2021.
Barcelona suffered a setback just before half-time when midfielder Frenkie de Jong was stretchered off after injuring his ankle in a challenge by Fede Valverde.
Xavi also substituted Lopez for Christensen at half-time and it worked well for the coach after a slower start to the second half.
The midfielder was in the correct position to score after 69 minutes when Lunin could only deflect Yamal’s low shot back into danger.
However Madrid, aiming for a fifth league and Champions League double, quickly responded when Vinicius delivered a cross to the far post and Vazquez arrived to score after losing his marker Cancelo.
Marc-Andre Ter Stegen made an outstanding save to stop Vinicius at his near post as the forward sprinted through on goal with Madrid attempting to score and virtually secure their La Liga title.
Bellingham delivered the decisive goal, despite being mostly quiet by the Catalans until he emphatically settled the match in stoppage time from Vazquez’s cross.
“We continue to fight until the end and we never admit we’re defeated,” Vazquez added.
AFP
