After the first Clasico of the season at the Olympic Stadium in Montjuic, Real Madrid took home the spoils. Both teams were desperate to pick up the victory, but Los Blancos now have a four-point gap to their biggest rivals, that will no doubt influence the roulette wheel of the title race – if games are your thing, you are able to find a variety of online games at your disposal.
Real Madrid come out of the game looking particularly pretty. Joint-top of the table, they have dropped points just twice all season, once in defeat to Atletico Madrid and again in a draw away to Sevilla. What is more, they have now visited Los Nervionenses, Barcelona, Girona and Atletico, four of the toughest away days in the campaign.
Jude Bellingham has undoubtedly been the star man for Los Blancos this season. Since making the move from Borussia Dortmund during the summer, he has netted 13 goals in 13 appearances, on top of three assists. Bellingham came into the biggest fixture of his career with all the pressure of knowing he was his team’s largest hope, but felt none of it. His brace was an announcement to the world that there was nothing disingenuous about his early season statistics.
Barcelona have not had quite as good of a start, but it was their only loss so far this season. They sit fourth in La Liga, four points behind Real Madrid – a deficit they will now hope to make up before they meet again, but now face their own tricky run, with Real Sociedad, Atletico and Girona on the horizon for themselves.
Barcelona will be well aware that they will need to shut the back door in order to have the best possible chance of success, given they are well behind their defensive statistics from last season, despite not being ahead of their offensive numbers.
The sense is in Barcelona that although they have more quality this season, turning that into results and finding more consistency has to be the priority. Xavi Hernandez’s side play better football, but as they demonstrated last season, results rule.
Meanwhile for Real Madrid, El Clasico was a demonstration that come crunch time, Carlo Ancelotti might be imperfect, but he does have one or two tricks up his sleeve, introducing Eduardo Camavinga and Luka Modric to great effect. Equally, their greatest strength must also be their greatest fear. If Bellingham falls out of form, on current performances, it could be disastrous.
“What is more, they have now visited Los Nervionenses, Barcelona, Girona and Atletico, four of the toughest away days in the campaign.”
Very true. We had a tougher schedule so far.
Will be fun to watch this team with a deadly striker up front. Bellingham linking up with Osimhen or Haaland would be a delight to watch if Mbappe doesnt come.