Madrid on brink of La Liga title with Clasico win
BARCELONA: Jude Bellingham snatched Real Madrid a dramatic 3-2 Clasico win over champions Barcelona on Sunday with a “fundamental” goal to take them 11 points clear at the top of La Liga.
Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti hailed the England midfielder’s decisive intervention to take Los Blancos to the brink of the Spanish title.
Madrid twice came from behind with Vinicius Junior and Lucas Vazquez netting to level Andreas Christensen and Fermin Lopez strikes, before Bellingham rammed home the winner in stoppage time.
“He arrived at just the right time, he worked so hard in the game, it’s been a while since he scored and today he scored a goal that could be fundamental in winning the league,” said Ancelotti.
Barcelona, second, bounced back with a strong performance after their Champions League exit at the hands of Paris SaintGermain but their last stand was demolished by Bellingham.
Madrid showed the same grit to stay in the match as they did midweek against Manchester City on the way to the final four in Europe, before Bellingham’s knock-out blow left the Santiago Bernabeu crowd delighted.
Madrid’s top scorer with 21 goals across all competitions, the former Borussia Dortmund man netted twice in Madrid’s Clasico win over Barcelona in October and is shining in his first season in Spain at only 20 years old.
“We took a huge step towards La Liga,” Vazquez, key 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’s penalty-saving hero against City, goalkeeper Andriy Lunin, made an early mistake to hand Barcelona the lead.
The Ukrainian strayed from his line to try and deal with a corner but got nowhere near the ball and Christensen nodded into the empty net.