Bellingham settles clásico with Real Madrid’s winner against Barcelona

The league opened with Jude Bellingham and it closed with him too. Way back in August, the Englishman stood before the stands at the place they call the Cathedral and opened his arms wide having scored on the first night of the rest of his life; now, eight months later, he did it again, the entire Santiago Bernabéu welcomed in, all 77,981 of them, and millions more around the world. It has become a trademark, and it meant the title.

Ninety minutes were up in the biggest game on earth and it was 2-2 when Lucas Vázquez, tireless all night, delivered one last pass towards the far post, and there was Bellingham, the man to whom this season will always belong. Thundering in at the far post, he struck it first time with his left foot into the roof of the net, to send this place wild. It was his seventeenth league goal – no one has more – and it was the one that as good as secured the title.

He had scored twice to see Madrid come back and defeat Barcelona at Montjuic, now he had given them a 3-2 win that takes them 11 points clear with just six games to go. As teammates leapt into the crowd, Bellingham went to the corner and danced with Vázquez, then he pulled that badge; the Bernabéu reacted by chanting his name and then launching into song. “Champions, Champions” they sang, and they will be too. He had led them there.

A clásico conditioned by what had happened in Europe in midweek, was theirs. It had not always been easy, and the best player out there might well have been a 16-year-old Lamine Yamal, but Bellingham had willed it, dragging his team forward even when a draw would do and rewarded with a late victory. What a week it had been; Manchester City were beaten, another European Cup within reach, and now so were Barcelona.

Madrid carried the physical cost of their shootout victory over Manchester City, Dani Carvajal, Nacho Fernández and Ferland Mendy all left out of the starting XI, after the euphoria of another barely believable European Cup night. They were aware too that, while they had suffered, they had survived and this was an opportunity to effectively tie up the league title.

They could do so against a team that came with the emotional baggage of elimination at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain and the fall out from a painful night, at the end of which Ilkay Gündogan had appeared to call out Ronald Araujo. “We have to turn all the anger, frustration and impotence in our favour,” Xavi had said.

It would be a stretch to say they did that exactly, but Andriy Lunin almost gave the ball away to Robert Lewandowski inside two minutes, as Barcelona pressed high, and the first key moment of the game was a complete break from the European script. Where Manchester City tried and failed so many times, racking up 18 corners with no reward, Barcelona succeeded at the very first attempt. Much like Wednesday night, the ball was swung in hard, close to goal. This time Lunin reached for it and missed it, allowing Andreas Christensen to head into an almost open goal. The game was just six minutes in and Barcelona already had the lead. They also had the encouragement to try again: their next three corners all caused Madrid problems, every delivery a mini crisis inside the six yard box.

Not, though, that the lead lasted long. Vinícius Júnior, who had already shot over from close range immediately after the opener, got it. Lucas Vazquez made it, and this time there were echoes of Europe. Once again, João Cancelo was at fault, the man guilty of giving away what even he called an “infantile” penalty in midweek allowing Vazquez to go. As the Madrid full-back dashed deep into the area, Pau Cubarsi left out a leg. There was perhaps time to withdraw it and, just as importantly, time for Vázquez to see it, taking advantage to to win the penalty from which Vinícius became the first player to beat Marc-André ter Stegen had in almost 600 La Liga minutes.

This was a strange game, with little real pattern and nothing that could be called control, but there were flashes. From Yamal, especially: he had already dashed away from Eduardo Camavinga only to be denied by Lunin, forced the corner from which Lewandowski headed just over with the goal at his mercy, and then, from Barcelona’s third corner, thought he had scored with a clever flicked. Lunin scooped that one out on, or maybe over, the line. It looked like it had gone in but no one knew: Spain has no goal-line technology and so, rather than an instant, objective decision, 2 minutes 36 seconds passed during which, for all the angles, no decision could be made and no goal given.

Still Yamal ran. Camavinga was struggling. Madrid’s full back for the day, he was involved when Yamal dashed into the box and went down, Barcelona appealing a little timidly for a penalty, and then again when Yamal raced through. This time the foul was clear, but it was also outside the area. That free-kick came to nought, as did a Gündogan curled effort on the other side of the area soon after. Madrid’s best opportunity came when Bellingham robbed Christensen. Sent clear, Vinícius and Rodrygo made a mess of the opportunity.

Frenkie De Jong was forced out after a clash with Fede Valverde and Christensen also made way at the break. Bellingham was growing too, releasing Vinícius for the Brazilian to shoot over. Barcelona had greater need of the victory than Madrid and on the hour Xavi sent on João Félix and Ferran Torres for Lewandowski and Raphinha. The decision was a bold one and almost immediately paid off when Ter Stegen’s swift, long throw found the Portuguese, who released Torres, running clear. Chased by Camavinga, he got all the way to the six yard box and smuggled the ball beyond Lunin, but also beyond the post.

That chance was gone but another followed fast. Yamal’s cross bent into the six-yard box. Torres leapt in front of Lunin, trying to turn it in. He missed it, Lunin pushed it out and there was Fermin Lopez to give Barcelona the lead. It didn’t last, Vinícius’s superb delivery across the area evaded four defenders, Cancelo the weakest link in a chain of them, and Vázquez came flying in, judging the bounce perfectly to smash home first time. Vinícius might have made it 3-2, dashing away up the left but denied by Ter Stegen. Unwillingly withdrawn soon after, he didn’t get another chance.

Madrid, though, did. The first fell to Joselu. The second to Bellingham, who else, as his season and theirs came full circle.