After being beaten three times by Barcelona last season, including a humiliating 4-0 defeat in front of their own fans and a cup final, Real Madrid needed a statement win in El Clasico. Jude Bellingham, once again, was the man to provide it.
His reputation as a clutch player for Madrid was forged with two winners against Barcelona in his debut season. This time, there was a spectacular assist to precede his winning goal, the youngest Madrid player to do both in this famous fixture this century.
Those two moments alone highlight much of what makes Bellingham such a special player. The assist required strength and skill to engineer the space before showing the vision and technique to find the perfect pass through for Kylian Mbappe to finish.
His goal was an exercise in timing, made to look simple as a result of his own movement. That instinct of a finisher is part of his make-up. Bellingham also won a penalty and had a goal disallowed for an offside against Brahim Diaz in the build-up.
Even in a Clasico crammed full of action – Mbappe having that penalty saved, while there were two more disallowed goals plus the obligatory red card followed by a melee at the end – watching Bellingham and nobody else still provides ample entertainment.
Bellingham does not so much play the game as orchestrate it. Perhaps not in the way that Pedro, the Barcelona player to see red, attempts to do so by setting the tempo with his passing but in a more literal sense – gesturing demonstratively to all around him.
Such is his main character energy there is no downtime. When the ball goes out of play, he can be seen rousing the crowd, focusing on a different section of the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium each time. He cajoles his team-mates. Argues with his opponents.
Of course, it is this characteristic that brought criticism from Thomas Tuchel in the summer, putting the spotlight on Bellingham’s behaviour. “He has the fire. I don’t want to dim this down. But the fire comes also with some attributes that can intimidate you.”
The England manager was stressing the need to channel that capacity to intimidate towards his opponents and Bellingham did plenty of that. Pedri was overwhelmed physically at times and told in the form of mime that he was being a cry-baby in others.
“Talk is cheap.” That was how Bellingham captioned his social media statement on the victory, a thinly-veiled dig at the apparent comments of Barcelona’s superstar Lamine Yamal, circulated publicly on the eve of the game. Madrid were evidently motivated.
With that in mind, Bellingham did the quiet work too, pressing when required and helping to contain after the hour mark once Xabi Alonso sought to bring a chaotic contest under control. Bellingham as an impact player but also as a midfield presence.
While Vinicius Junior was sacrificed early, much to his own dismay, Bellingham stayed on until late, receiving a standing ovation from the Bernabeu crowd when finally withdrawn in the 86th minute of the match. Madrid held on to move five points clear.
A statement win for Alonso’s team, and a much-needed one given their imperious form this season had been punctuated by a shock 5-2 defeat to Atletico in the Madrid derby. They needed to deliver in a big game – this big game – to underline their progress.
But it was undoubtedly a statement from Bellingham too. With a World Cup to follow at the end of the season, he finds himself, improbably, out of the England squad and amid growing whispers that the squad might have found something more in his absence.
This was a reminder of why it is surely unthinkable that Tuchel does not include him. Perhaps it is worth recalling the line that the England boss uttered prior to the passage about his intimidatory presence. “Jude has a certain something,” Tuchel had begun.
“He brings an edge, which we welcome and which is needed if we want to achieve big things.” In Madrid, where winning big things is a habit and obligation, they understand that. England need to embrace it too because Jude Bellingham is a difference maker.
The pictures in this article were taken by OPPO Find X9 Pro. OPPO is a leading global smart device brand.
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