Jude Bellingham had a hand in both goals, and Kylian Mbappe continued his excellent run of form as Real Madrid beat Barcelona in the first Clasico of the year, 2-1. It was hardly a legendary iteration of this famous fixture, but two first half goals from Los Blancos was enough to see off the short handed Blaugrana.
Madrid thought they might have had a penalty early on, but saw one chalked off after Vinicius Jr was adjudged to have kicked the ground as he burst into the box.
It was a sign of chaos to come. Mbappe had another one disallowed for a narrow offside. But on the second time of asking there was no such call. Bellingham played him through, Mbappe paused and then lashed into the bottom corner.
Los Blancos then gifted Barca an equaliser, Arda Guler giving the ball away at the top of his own box to allow an unmarked Fermin Lopez to ghost into the area and finish. But Madrid had more in them, still. Bellingham made it 2-1 thanks to an easy tap in after no one tracked the Englishman on a set piece.
They had a chance to put the ball away in the second half from the spot. Yet Wojciech Szczesny responded, saving Mbappe’s penalty after a lengthy VAR review handed Madrid a fortuitous spot kick. It was a rather quiet second half, with Barca, without Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski, having few attacking ideas.
Credit: goal.com
