Real Madrid leaned upon their star man once again to come from behind and defeat Barcelona in Catalonia on Saturday afternoon.

Jude Bellingham’s second-half brace, replete with an almost unique pairing of long-range stunner and stoppage-time winner, kept Madrid top of La Liga, opening up a four-point gap above Barcelona. Girona, the lesser side from Catalonia, are also above Barca, level on points with Madrid in second place.

How integral the result of El Clasico will be by the end of the season remains to be seen. But the short-term effect of such a high-stakes contest will bleed into the imminent fixtures of both teams.

Here’s what lies ahead for Real Madrid and Barcelona in the coming weeks.

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After theoretically the toughest away trip of every season for Real Madrid – the journey into Barcelona’s slice of Catalonia – the capital side will be treated to a glut of five home fixtures across their next six games.

Carlo Ancelotti’s side don’t venture out of Madrid until after November’s international break – although, a sojourn to Cadiz is always welcome.

Madrid’s first match after El Clasico is the visit of Rayo Vallecano next Sunday. The team from Vallecas parted ways with their talismanic manager Andoni Iraola but have fared far better than Bournemouth’s new boss. While Iraola had to wait until his tenth game on the south coast of England to win a Premier League match, his successor Francisco has taken 16 points from ten outings.

Ancelotti played to the gallery when he hailed the Champions League as the competition Real Madrid „enjoy the most“ earlier this season. The 14-time continental champions have won their first three games in Europe by a single goal each time. Portuguese side Braga travel to the Spanish capital three weeks before reigning Serie A champions Napoli make the trip.

Napoli have taken the lead against Real Madrid in each of the last four meetings between the clubs but are still waiting for their first victory. As Bellingham underscored on Saturday afternoon, Madrid are never entirely out of a match.

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Barcelona will feel the pinch of a relatively sedate opening fixture list over the coming weeks. Including Madrid’s visit on Saturday, Barcelona face the three teams that finished immediately behind them in La Liga last season over the span of five games.

A week after El Clasico, Barcelona are up against Real Sociedad. When the two sides last met in May, La Real contributed half of the league goals Barcelona shipped at home across the entire campaign, running out as 2-1 winners at Camp Nou. Building upon last season’s fourth-placed finish, Real Sociedad sit above Inter – last season’s Champions League finalists – in Group D at the halfway stage.

Barcelona also top their European group, recording a perfect haul of three wins while conceding a single goal. Even a draw against Shakhtar Donetsk on 7 November would confirm Barcelona’s place in the competition’s knockout stages for the first time since Lionel Messi’s departure.

The Catalan giants may be able to coast through the rest of the continental group stage but can scarcely afford to ease up against Atletico Madrid at the start of December, particularly after Saturday’s stumble against the other capital outfit. Diego Simeone’s newly free-scoring outfit boast arguably the best player in Spain not called Bellingham; Barcelona reject Antoine Griezmann. The Catalans managed to keep Bellingham quiet for 68 minutes, can they muzzle Griezmann for all 90?

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