Bellingham puts the icing on the garter cake | The truth

The Barça team, which appeared with the noose around its neck and after suffering a painful European elimination, showed its face at the Chamartín venue but ended up succumbing to the irreducible character of the locals. Vinicius and Lucas Vázquez neutralized the goals from Christensen and Fermín before Bellingham, as it did in the first round duel held in Montjuic, appeared in stoppage time to put the icing on the league cake, certifying a comeback that raised the score to eleven points. the leader's gap over the second place with only six days remaining. An unbridgeable distance.

The fierce battle fought on Wednesday against Manchester City left deep consequences on the Real Madrid eleven. The most affected area was the defense, from which Carvajal, Nacho and Mendy fell. In order to rebuild a wall that barely showed any cracks at the Etihad, Ancelotti initially enlisted Lucas Vázquez, who was decisive in a match in which he scored a goal, caused a penalty and gave an assist, and assigned orthopedic positions to two midfielders: Tchouaméni as center back and Camavinga as left back. The repositioning of the two French internationals opened space for Modric in the wide zone, thus breaking what seemed a taboo this season: that the Croatian and Kroos coincided from the first minute in a bell-ringing match. Barça, which had one more day of rest than its opponent and had less wear and tear from the Champions League by not having played extra time in the elimination against PSG, presented a more recognizable battalion, with no more novelty than the entry of Christensen for Pedri in the machine room.

The Dane was precisely in charge of opening the scoring in a strategic action that showed that football, in addition to being a state of mind, is also a sport rich in ironies. After coming out unscathed on Wednesday after 18 corner kicks by City, Real Madrid bled in the first one that Barça took this Sunday. The main reason for this was that Lunin, a hero at the Etihad, sang this time at the start, which allowed Christensen, with more pole than Kroos, to head into the net. Real Madrid was able to respond quickly after a hairstyle from Modric to Vinicius, but the Fluminense finished off by pointing to the 360 ​​video scoreboard, the new jewel of the remodeled Santiago Bernabéu that made its debut precisely in the classic.

Great staging for a meeting of continuous back and forth. Lunin had time to redeem himself for his mistake in Christensen's goal by aborting a very dangerous shot by Lamine Yamal before Lucas Vázquez made a suit for Cancelo and caused a penalty from Cubarsí that Vinicius took advantage of to equalize the score between two teams that attended to the fight with mirror systems. Xavi arranged a square in the center of the field with Christensen and De Jong at the base and Raphinha and Gündogan in front. A drawing that Ancelotti responded to by pairing Kroos with Valverde, with Modric and Bellingham further forward.

Controversy

Real Madrid had two blind spots: the negligent defense of set pieces and the left wing, which Lamine Yamal turned into a playground in front of Camavinga. The winger, irrepressible, gave Cabinda a yellow card for a foul on the edge of the area shortly after his back heel following a corner kick ignited controversy. Lunin, surprised again, took the ball into the goal, without the VAR finding irrefutable proof that the ball had completely crossed the line in a championship lacking that 'hawk's eye' technology which, it should be remembered, also did not It is the panacea.

De Jong's injury on the stroke of half-time prompted Xavi to call up Pedri and the Egarense had no qualms about immediately upping the ante by retiring Christensen to seek the arrival of Fermín. Barça was forced to take risks so that the title train did not slip away definitively, which opened ground for Real Madrid to play with the anxiety of its opponent and try to strike on the counterattack. The Whites had good chances at this juncture, especially with a long delivery from Bellingham in which Vinicius had plenty of legs but lacked finesse in his definition.

With the clock ticking, Barça burned their last ships and struck again after a hasty clearance by Lunin that Fermín took advantage of to make it 1-2. However, the joy was short-lived for the Blaugranas, since Vinicius penetrated like a knife through butter from the left wing and put a tense cross to the far post that Lucas Vázquez collected to tie again.

The exchange of blows made the fight even worse and Vinicius, who in the first half had wasted a golden opportunity for erring on the side of altruism, committed an excess of selfishness to end up running into Ter Stegen's body when he could have given the pass of death to Brahim. He also had the victory in Fermín's hand, stopped 'in extremis' by Fran García after a magnificent pass from Gündogan that left the way clear for the Huelva native. But it was Bellingham who said the last word to definitively resolve the league file and leave Real Madrid thinking only about the Champions League.