Bellingham strikes as Real Madrid stretch LaLiga lead with El Clasico win
Jude Bellingham’s first-half strike proved decisive as Real Madrid held off Barcelona in El Clásico to earn a 2-1 win, taking them five points clear at the top of LaLiga.
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Bellingham struck the ball home from close range in the 43rd minute to put his side back in front after Fermin Lopez had cancelled out Kylian Mbappe’s early strike.
In a fast-paced first half, Mbappe had seen a 12th-minute effort ruled out for offside, before Bellingham sent him through to continue his superb scoring record against the Catalan giants.
Mbappe could afford to miss a penalty early in the second half after Barcelona keeper Wojciech Szczesny guessed correctly, while Bellingham briefly thought he had a second only to be denied for offside.
Jules Kounde missed Barcelona’s best chance to pull level and to compound their misery they had Pedri sent off deep into injury time for a second bookable offence.
Pablo Duran’s late strike earned Celta Vigo a priceless 3-2 win at fellow strugglers Osasuna, for whom an Ante Budimir double had put them in front at the interval.
Johan Mojica’s 79th-minute effort saw Mallorca grab a 1-1 draw with Levante, while Alemao netted deep in injury time to give Rayo Vallecano a 1-0 win over visitors Alaves.
Paulo Dybala scored his first goal of the season as Roma won 1-0 at Sassuolo to move level on points with Napoli at the top of Serie A.
But there was more woe for Juventus, who are now winless in eight matches after a ninth-minute goal from Toma Basic gave Lazio a 1-0 win at the Olympic Stadium.
An injury-time penalty from Moise Kean saw Fiorentina hit back from two down to draw 2-2 against Bologna, while Torino beat rock-bottom Genoa 2-1, and Verona and Cagliari drew 2-2.
In Ligue 1, Felix Correia scored twice in Lille’s 6-1 thumping of still-winless Metz, while there were also victories for Nice, Le Havre and Angers.
Strasbourg defender Ismael Doukoure had a night to forget as he scored an own goal and was then sent off midway through the second half of his side’s 1-1 draw at Lyon. Joaquin Panichelli’s 25th-minute effort had put the visitors in front.
In the German Bundesliga, Deniz Undav hit the winner as Stuttgart moved up to third with a 2-1 win over Mainz, while Bayer Leverkusen beat Freiburg 2-0.