Jude Bellingham's first half strike proved decisive as Real Madrid held off Barcelona in El Clasico to earn a 2-1 win that takes them five points clear at the top of LaLiga.
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.
