Reuters
[Source: Reuters]
Real Madrid battled back to win 2-1 at Barcelona in a nervy LaLiga ‘El Clasico’ this morning 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 soccer look ridiculously easy, with 13 goals and three assists in 13 games in all competitions since joining from Borussia Dortmund.
On Saturday, he led Real’s fight back after Barcelona had opened the scoring in the sixth minute through midfielder Ilkay Gundogan 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 Gundogan found the ball at his feet for an easy tap-in after Real defender Aurelien Tchouameni passed backwards to centre back David Alaba who barely reached the ball.
Midfielder Fermin Lopez, who hit the post in the 15th minute, and forward Joao Felix were a constant menace to Real’s defence and created several chances to score, with Real arguably lucky to go into the break only one goal down.
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