The classic is by Jude Bellingham. The one at Montjuïc and the one at the Bernabéu. Since Cristiano Ronaldo nine years ago, no Real Madrid player had scored against Barça in the first and second rounds. Even the Englishman, a dazzling appearance with an immediate effect, in the game and in the love with the stands, from when he unblocked the first games of the season until he put the finishing touch to the League by getting the team out of another quagmire. And himself from another: he had not scored in white since February. But he is a footballer of key moments, and of key moments for Madrid. With only 18 points left in dispute, Ancelotti’s team sealed the championship by moving 11 points away from Xavi, who held out until the Englishman’s point despite showing fewer weapons in the match, and on the course.
3
Andriy Lunin, Aurelien Tchouameni, Camavinga (Fran Garcia, min. 71), Rüdiger, Lucas Vázquez, Federico Valverde, Modric, Jude Bellingham, Kroos (Brahim Diaz, min. 71), Vinicius Junior (Joselu, min. 82) and Rodrygo (Eder Militao, min. 74)
2
Ter Stegen, Pau Cubarsí, Cancelo, Koundé, Ronald Araújo, A. Christensen (Fermín López, min. 45), Frenkie De Jong (Pedri, min. 51), Gündogan, Lamine Yamal, Raphinha (João Félix, min. 63) and Lewandowski (Ferrán Torres, min. 63)
Goals 0-1 min. 5: A. Christensen. 1-1 min. 17: Vinicius Junior. 1-2 min. 69: Fermin Lopez. 2-2 min. 72: Lucas Vázquez. 3-2 min. 90: Jude Bellingham.
Referee César Soto Grado
Yellow cards Camavinga (min. 33), Koundé (min. 75), Modric (min. 82) and Pau Cubarsí (min. 90)
But the classics usually form spaces outside the general dynamics. Madrid and Barça arrived with very divergent trajectories. Real, compact after a successful union exercise in Manchester. Barça, torn after the elimination against Paris Saint-Germain due to the internal fracture after criticism from Gündogan, the same footballer who complained about his teammates in the classic of the first round in Montjuïc, the match that opened the first major course cracks in Xavi’s project. But the game started the other way around. The first classic that Bellingham conquered.
Very strange things happen on these dates. Real started with a drop in tension after the great moment at the Etihad, with several gifts at the start. The second, from Vinicius, led to a corner from which Barcelona’s first goal came. Another helping of strangeness. Madrid had only been scored once from a corner kick in the previous 31 days. Not only that: Christensen headed in at the far post after the ball flew over Lunin, Europe’s goalkeeper who best controls aerial traffic. But that one escaped him.
The second shock also came from the corner. Madrid seemed to have forgotten everything at once: its hierarchy and its certainties. Lamine Yamal touched the near post with his spur and Lunin tapped the ball over the line. Or so they understood in the VOR room after a couple of minutes of scrutinizing the cameras. Because yes, the League still does not have the goal technology that helps settle these plays in the other major championships. Here you have to scrutinize shots, deduce what is behind Lunin’s body, until concluding that a part of the ball was still casting a shadow on the line when the Ukrainian scared him away.
The scares woke up Madrid, who took control of the midfield, the touch and the transitions. He dominated all speeds with the ball, with Kroos and Modric together again in the starting eleven on a big night, something that had not happened since September at the Metropolitano. But above all with the increasingly expansive deployment of Fede Valverde.
Barça was the least canonical Barça, with an inconsequential midfield with Gündogan, Christensen and De Jong, who left injured at the end of the first half. It hardly manufactured anything in that strip. He had the most delayed cauldron, along the lines of the clairvoyant Cubarsí, who made his debut at the Bernabéu. Xavi’s team did not find a way to play in the center, but they immediately detected the opportunity for the Lamine Yamal-Camavinga duel. Ancelotti once again lined up the Frenchman on the left side due to the exhaustion that Mendy was carrying from Manchester, which also made Carvajal rest, replaced by Lucas, brilliant, with a decisive weight in the match. The night turned out to be an ordeal for Camavinga, surpassed by the electricity of Yamal, who simply appeared on the back line, with the dribble or in space.
Madrid’s response did not follow the manual either. Lucas dribbled past Cancelo, stepped into the area and ended up tripped on the ground by Cubarsí. The penalty was converted by Vinicius, who had started his shooting career against Barcelona in the summer in Dallas, where he made his debut by hitting the crossbar.
De Jong’s injury, in a split ball that Valverde smashed against his right ankle, paved the way for the entry of Pedri, who was accompanied shortly after by Fermín in place of Christensen. The changes revived the Barça midfield, which appeared on the map. Barça began to take steps forward and Xavi intervened to try to push even further. He removed Lewandowski, somewhat disconnected, and Raphinha, and introduced João Félix and Ferran, who made a decisive maneuver at 1-2. He threw Yamal, again Yamal. The Valencian crossed the path, Lunin, uncomfortable, cleared poorly and Fermín took advantage of the invitation, as in Dallas.
Ancelotti brought in Fran García and Brahim for Kroos and Camavinga. The response was instantaneous, although it was elaborated, as in the first goal, by Vinicius and Lucas. This time, the other way around: assist from the Brazilian from side to side and goal from the Galician at the far post.
But the League caught Bellingham when they chased a cross pass from Lucas (Lucas again).
You can follow The USA Print in Facebook and xor sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter.
