MADRID: Jude Bellingham scored the winner as Real Madrid beat Barcelona 2-1 in a tense Clasico earlier this morning, widening their five-point gap at the top of La Liga.
Defending champions Barcelona had won four consecutive meetings last season, but new Real manager Xabi Alonso ended that streak in his debut in charge of the prestigious competition.
Kylian Mbappe opened the scoring for Madrid before Fermin Lopez equalised for the visitors at the Santiago Bernabeu. But Bellingham added a second goal before half-time that proved decisive.
Tensions peaked at the end of the match when Barca midfielder Pedri was shown a red card after collecting a second yellow card.
The victory saw Madrid make it nine wins from their first 10 league games of the season, making up for the disappointment of their defeat to Atletico Madrid last month.
“Against Atletico we didn’t play as expected and today we proved our true potential. We need to keep up this pace,” said Madrid midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni.
Alonso admitted that the victory was very meaningful after last season Real failed to compete with Barca in a big meeting.
“We need a win like this to restore our confidence in being able to beat big teams,” he said.
Meanwhile, the visiting squad is being managed by assistant coach Marcus Sorg after Hansi Flick was suspended following a red card last week in the win over Girona.
“The season is still long, there are 28 matches left. We’re not panicking about the current situation,” said Sorg.
Barcelona were without several key players including Raphinha, Robert Lewandowski and Dani Olmo, while Lamine Yamal, who is still not fully recovered, was also included.
Madrid were almost awarded an early penalty after Yamal collided with Vinicius Junior, but the decision was overturned after a VAR review.
Mbappe didn’t wait long to celebrate when a brilliant run and a perfect pass from Bellingham allowed the French striker to curl a shot past Wojciech Szczesny – his 11th league goal of the season.
The Polish goalkeeper then made several crucial saves before Barcelona equalised on the counter-attack, when Marcus Rashford crossed for Lopez to finish in the 38th minute.
But five minutes later, Bellingham restored Madrid’s lead when he headed home Eder Militao’s rebound after a Vinicius Junior pass.