Barcelona 1-2 Real Madrid: Player ratings as brilliant Bellingham brace wins El Clasico
Jude Bellingham was the hero of his first ever El Clasico on Saturday afternoon, bagging two goals as Real Madrid beat Barcelona 2-1 in stoppage-time at the Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium.
Barcelona dominated the game early on, taking the lead through Ilkay Gundogan in the sixth minute, however the introduction of Luka Modric would turn the game in Madrid’s favour in the second half.
After the Croatian’s introduction, Madrid were able to wrestle back control of proceedings, with Bellingham levelling with a fantastic goal in the 68th minute before bagging the winning goal two minutes into injury time.
The win sees Madrid move back to the top of La Liga and open up a four-point lead over arch rivals Barca, who remain in third place.
How the game unfolded
Barcelona controlled the opening exchanges of the game thanks to an effective high press – led by the full of beans Gavi – and were rewarded for their positive approach with a goal in the sixth minute.
The goal would come courtesy of some lax play from both Aurelien Tchouameni and David Alaba, who were seemingly panicking while under pressure from Barca’s midfield and thus failed to deal with a loose ball on the edge of their own box. That allowed Ilkay Gundogan, Manchester City’s treble-winning captain last season, to steal in and stab home his first goal for his new club.
The home side would force another mistake from a Real Madrid midfielder ten minutes later to almost bag a second goal. Gavi stole the ball from the half-asleep Toni Kroos on the edge of the Madrid box, and tapped it into the path of Fermin Lopez inside the penalty area. Kroos was spared his blushes, however, by the foot of the post, seeing Fermin’s first-time effort cannon off it and deflect clear of the danger zone.
Having been pretty much whole dominated by their Clasico rivals for the majority of the first half, Madrid finally showed some signs of life in the final third in the 39th minute. With Vinicius, Rodrygo and Bellingham all struggling to affect proceedings, it would be Dani Carvajal who’d create Los Blancos‘ first notable chance of the game, firing the ball into the side-netting from the right hand side of the penalty area.
Barca came flying out of the traps once again at the start of the second half, almost doubling their lead through Inigo Martinez and then Ronald Araujo in quick succession. The first chance would fall to Martinez, who rose highest in the box to head a Gundogan cross off of the post.
Araujo reacted quickest to the ball hitting the post, racing in ahead of Antonio Rudiger to fire a follow-up effort goalward – an effort which was well saved by goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga.
The introduction of Luka Modric on the hour mark proved to be a turning point in the game. With one of the greatest midfielders of all time in their ranks, Madrid’s performance noticeably improved.
First Tchouameni would fire a warning shot from 25 years out to force Marc-Andre ter Stegen into a notable save, before Bellingham equalised in stunning fashion.
Having been man-marked out of the game by Gavi for 68 minutes, the Madrid superstar finally wrestled free of the Barca midfielder’s grasp to find some space outside of the box. After shifting the ball out of his feet, Bellingham then rifled a stunning strike past the outstretched left arm of Ter Stegen and into the top right corner of the net.
Madrid grew in confidence after drawing level, pressing forward with real intent in search of a winner while Barca were noticeably tiring, and Bellingham, who else, was able to find the winner two minutes into five added on.
The superstar midfielder bagged his tenth, and most important, La Liga goal of the season so far, reacting quickest when a low cross from Carvajal bobbled off the foot of Modric, over the head of Martinez, and into the six-yard box.
GK: Marc-Andre ter Stegen – 5/10 – Made a decent save to deny Tchouameni in the second half. No goalkeeper was saving Bellingham’s effort though.
RB: Ronald Araujo – 7/10 – As he usually does, he got the better of Vinicius Junior in an El Clasico.
CB: Andreas Christensen – 7/10 – Made a number of notable tackles in and around his own penalty area late in the game.
CB: Inigo Martinez – 6/10 – Hit the post with a great header, and kept Madrid’s attackers very quiet at the other end of the park.
LB: Alejandro Balde – 6/10 – Burst forward well on occasion and did a decent job at the other end defensively too.
CM: Fermin Lopez – 7/10 – Hit the post in the first half and put in a proper shift throughout. A very good El Clasico debut for the youngster.
CM: Gavi – 8/10 – A fantastically busy performance in the middle of the park. The Spaniard man-marked Bellingham out of the game completely for over an hour…then the bad thing happened.
CM: Ilkay Gundogan – 7/10 – What a time to score your first ever Barcelona goal.
RW: Joao Cancelo – 5/10 – Caused Mendy a few problems, then struggled a bit more against his replacement Camavinga.
ST: Ferran Torres – 5/10 – The quietest of Barca’s front three, but he worked hard during his hour on the pitch at least.
LW: Joao Felix – 6/10 – Provided YouTube compilation creators with some lovely bits of skills, however he didn’t really create much of substance during the game.
Substitutes
SUB: Robert Lewandowski (61′ for Ferran) – 6/10
SUB: Oriol Romeu (71′ for Fermin) – 5/10
SUB: Lamine Yamal (77′ for Cancelo) – 5/10
SUB: Raphinha (77′ for Felix) – 5/10
Manager
Xavi Hernandez – 6/10 – Got his tactics spot on early in the game, with the Barca press causing Madrid a whole host of problems. Ultimately his team tired late on though.
GK: Kepa Arrizabalaga – 6/10 – Couldn’t do much about Gundogan’s goal, but made a fantastic save to deny Araujo in the second half.
RB: Dani Carvajal – 5/10 – Struggled a bit defensively, as he has done for most of the season so far, but had his moments in the final third.
CB: Antonio Rudiger – 7/10 – The best player in Madrid’s backline. Rudiger bailed out his teammates a few times with great blocks and challenges.
CB: David Alaba – 5/10 – Gundogan’s goal wasn’t the greatest moment of his career, it must be said.
LB: Ferland Mendy – 4/10 – Didn’t get forward at all and was rightfully replaced early in the second half.
CM: Federico Valverde – 6/10 – Used the ball well throughout, completing 93% of his passes.
CM: Aurelien Tchouameni – 5/10 – Really struggled to match the tempo set by Barcelona. The midfielder was ultimately at fault for Gundogan’s opening goal.
CM: Toni Kroos – 5/10 – His lack of pace was exploited by Barca.
AM: Jude Bellingham – 10/10 – Completely marked out of the game by Gavi until the 68th minute. Then he went and scored a simply tremendous goal to get his side back on level terms, and later a second to win the game. He is on another level.
ST: Rodrygo Goes – 4/10 – The Brazilian is simply not a striker and was swallowed up by the physical Barcelona backline.
ST: Vinicius Junior – 5/10 – Another difficult game up against Araujo.
Substitutes
SUB: Eduardo Camavinga (52′ for Mendy) – 7/10 – Much, much better than Mendy. Camvinga provided Madrid with some real energy on the left flank.
SUB: Joselu (63′ for Rodrygo) – 7/10 – Provided Madrid with some much needed presence up top.
SUB: Luka Modric (63′) – 8/10 – Changed the game when he was introduced. No other Real Madrid midfielder can do what he can in the middle of the park.
SUB: Lucas Vazquez (94′ for Vinicius) – N/A.
Manager
Carlo Ancelotti – 7/10 – His team were overran in the first half, but his introduction of Camavinga and Modric turned the game around.