Real Madrid stole the bragging rights from Camp Nou and made Bernabéu rejoice with a 2-1 victory against Barcelona in El Clásico, thus, extending their lead at the top of LaLiga to five points.
After four consecutive wins in all competitions, Los Blancos were exuberantly confident going into the clash and they did not take long to demonstrate their dominance. Mbappé was flagged for offside after an early goal that he scored, but in the 22nd, he was absolutely on target, following a pretty assist from Bellingham, he fired the ball into the net in a very cool way. Barcelona didn’t throw in the towel and they equalized through Fermín López, after Arda Güler made a very costly giveaway.
The response of the Real team was direct. With Vinícius Júnior’s dangerous cross, Éder Militão was able to control the ball and he passed it perfectly for Bellingham who with no rush put the ball again to the net to give the locals the advantage before the break. The second half saw lots of drama and action — Mbappé missed his penalty shot after Eric García’s handball while Real had another goal disallowed for offside.
Even if Barcelona exerted pressure in the final moments, Real defended bravely and Pedri’s red card extremely late was a sure sign that luck was against the visitors. This triumphant comeback home league run no. 9 for Real made them the kings of the title race and at the same time kept Xabi Alonso’s unbeaten coaching record alive.
