El Classico is one of the biggest fixtures in club football, and its also often one of the most entertaining.
The two Spanish giants faced each other at the weekend and it was another feast of football as Real Madrid had to come back from behind twice against Barcelona at the Bernabeu.
Christensen scored the opening goal of the game for Barcelona, but a Vinicius Jr penalty took the game level as the players went in for the half-time break. Xavi was clearly annoyed at the penalty decision as he thought it was a dive, which added to the drama and intensity of the mood in the stadium.
Fermin Lopez made it 2-1 to Barca in the second half before Lucas Vazquez equalised for Real Madrid again. It looked like that might be the final score but the man of the moment Jude Bellingham scored a late winner as the game headed into injury time to give all three points to Real.
Madrid are now 11 points clear at the top of La Liga and with six games to play you would have to say that is the title wrapped up, as they also go 28 games unbeaten in all competitions.
Bellingham rose to the occasion again to be the match-winner, and it looks like Madrid now look to him in their time of need to make something happen. He’s getting a reputation for being able to do just that. Bellingham is the second top scorer in La Liga with 17 goals – just one behind Girona’s Artem Dovbyk.
The game wasn’t without its controversy though, as Xavi was not only claiming a dive for Madrid’s penalty call, but Barcelona did claim that they also put the ball over the goal line, but it was not counted as there is no goal-line technology in La Liga. Xavi said it was a “disgrace” that the technology is not in place to intervene in such important moments.
Watching this great fixture was like looking at the first half of Madrid vs Man City. The tactics were the same in using the speed of Vini Jr and Rodrygo by getting Bellingham on the ball to have him use is game intelligence.
It was a joy to see all three upfront have the freedom and connection of going where they want, and still having to do their job defensively. Barca should have exploited the battle between winger Yamal vs Camavinga even more. But watching Rudiger win his battle against Lewandowski, just like he did with Haaland against City was great to see.