\n
\nBARCELONA, Spain (AP) \u2014 Jude Bellingham won\u2019t forget his first \u201cclasico\u201d match for Real Madrid.
\nAnd neither will Barcelona.
\nAlready a fan favorite at Madrid, the young England midfielder established himself as its undisputed leader after he scored two goals, including an-injury time winner, to almost single-handedly lead a 2-1 comeback victory at his team\u2019s fiercest rival on Saturday in the Spanish league.
\n\u201cI had watched many clasicos from the sofa with my family, and I told them that today it was my turn to live it firsthand and do something great,\u201d Bellingham said. \u201cI\u2019ve done that and I\u2019m very happy.\u201d
\nBellingham continued his superb scoring form since joining Madrid this summer with 13 goals in as many games overall and a Spanish league-leading 10 goals after 11 rounds. He has blossomed into a clinical finisher since moving to Spain\u2019s capital. In all of last season he had 14 goals for former club Borussia Dortmund in Germany.
\nSome space well outside the area was enough for Bellingham to blast in a superb equalizer in the 68th minute and cancel out Ilkay Gundogan\u2019s opener. And then Bellingham knew where to be in the final moments: in the heart of the box to poach the winner when a deflected cross fell his way.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t know how to explain what Jude is doing,\u201d Luka Modric, who played his 500th game for Madrid, said about his new teammate. \u201cHe just arrived and is playing like he has been here a long time\u2026 I don\u2019t think even he can believe the goals he is scoring.\u201d
\nBellingham was kept in check by Barcelona\u2019s Gavi Pa\u00e9z until he found space well outside the box to unleash a strike that swerved past Marc-Andre ter Stegen and hit the corner of the net.
\nThe rival players and coaches agreed that the sizzling equalizer changed a game that, until shortly before his strike, Barcelona had controlled.
\n\u201cThe equalizer changed the dynamic of the game,\u201d Madric coach Carlo Ancelotti said.
\nBellingham tapped in the stoppage-time winner when a cross by Dani Carvajal deflected by Luka Modric fell to him in front of the goal.
\nAs Barcelona coach Xavi Hern\u00e1ndez put it: \u201cBellingham is a great player, but he is also in a state of grace.\u201d
\nMadrid remained top of the league, level on points with second-place Girona. Barcelona is in third place at four points back. Atletico Madrid can move ahead of Barcelona with a win over Alaves on Sunday.
\nGAVI VS JUDE
\nBarcelona dictated the first half, and Gundogan\u2019s insistence on chasing a ball that Madrid appeared to be certain to control or clear paid off with his first goal for his new club in the sixth minute.
\nGundogan worked a quick passing combination with Ferran Torres, but it was a poor touch by Aur\u00e9lien Tchouam\u00e9ni that let Gundogan continue his run forward past Antonio Rudiger and David Alaba, who were both slow to react. Alaba failed to kick the ball to safety and Gundogan only had to tap it past Kepa Arrizabalaga.
\nBarcelona went for a second goal and almost found it when Gavi stripped the ball from Toni Kroos near Madrid\u2019s area and set up Ferm\u00edn L\u00f3pez, whose shot hit the post.
\nBarcelona\u2019s \u00cd\u00f1igo Mart\u00ednez headed off the post in the 51st and Kepa had to turn away Ronald Ara\u00fajo\u2019s attempt to put in the rebound.
\n\u201cThey had 25 good minutes and scored twice, and we had a good 60 minutes and only scored once,\u201d Xavi said. \u201cI sincerely think that, if one team should have won today, it was Barca. But Madrid is like this. If you don\u2019t finish them off, they come back and kill you.\u201d
\nThe game between the two Spanish powerhouses featured a fascinating showdown between the 20-year-old Bellingham and Barcelona\u2019s 19-year-old Gavi, a rivalry that promises to continue for years to come.
\nGavi, an aggressive tackler, might have won almost all the individual battles, stripping Bellingham of the ball several times, but it was Bellingham who was celebrating after his decisive brace in one of the world\u2019s most watched soccer games.
\nAbout his own performance, Gavi said, \u201cIt didn\u2019t mean a thing since we didn\u2019t win.\u201d
\nRobert Lewandowski, Barcelona\u2019s top scorer, began the game on the bench and went on for the final half hour to little effect. The striker received a medical clearance before kickoff that he had recovered from an injury that had sidelined him for several weeks.
\nSTONES VS BEATLES
\nRock legend Mick Jagger attended the game at Llu\u00eds Companys Olympic Stadium to see Barcelona\u2019s players wear special jerseys featuring the Rolling Stones\u2019 iconic \u201chot lips\u201d logo in place of the club\u2019s normal shirt sponsor.
\nMadrid had a bit of fun with the alliance between the Stones and Barcelona after the game. It posted an image of Bellingham with the message \u201cThe Beatles were always my favorite band\u201d on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
\nBellingham\u2019s fans have sung Beatles hit \u201cHey Jude\u201d to praise the player.<\/p>\n
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BARCELONA, Spain (AP) \u2014 Jude Bellingham won\u2019t forget his first \u201cclasico\u201d match for Real Madrid. And neither will Barcelona. Already a fan favorite at Madrid, the young England midfielder established himself as its undisputed leader after he scored two goals, including an-injury time winner, to almost single-handedly lead a 2-1 comeback victory at his team\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-227300","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227300\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}