Today's Edition
London (PA Media/dpa)
Jude Bellingham struck the winner as Real Madrid beat Barcelona 2-1 in this season's first El Clasico to move five points clear of their rivals at the top of La Liga.
Bellingham tapped home shortly before the interval at the Bernabeu Stadium after Fermin Lopez had equalized for Barça, while the England midfielder also provided a sublime assist for Kylian Mbappe's opener.
Mbappe had a second-half penalty saved by Barça goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny and there was no shortage of drama as Real broke their rivals' recent stranglehold on the fixture.
Barça were chasing a third straight win at the Bernabeu after winning there in both La Liga and the Spanish Super Cup last season, while a fifth successive Clasico victory in all competitions eluded them.
Real, thrashed 4-0 in the corresponding fixture last season, were awarded a penalty in the second minute when Vinicius Junior went down under Lamine Yamal's challenge.
But after being asked to check the monitor by VAR, referee Cesar Soto Grado changed his mind.
Barça were given another let-off in the 12th minute when Mbappe lashed home a brilliant 25-yard shot only for his effort to be ruled out for offside after another VAR intervention, with Vinicius Junior fractionally offside.
Real did take the lead in the 22nd minute when Mbappe raced clear on to Bellingham's excellent through-ball and fired beyond Szczesny into the bottom corner for his 11th goal in 10 league games this season.
It was also the France striker's 19th goal in 16 appearances in all competitions for club and country this season.
In a free-flowing first half, both sides looked threatening every time they attacked and Barça equalized seven minutes before the break when Lopez slammed home Marcus Rashford's inch-perfect cut-back.
Rashford provided his seventh assist in 13 appearances for the Catalans, but the visitors were not level for long.
Vinicius Junior picked out Eder Militao at the far post shortly before half-time and the latter headed back across goal for Bellingham to sweep Real back in front from three yards.
The end-to-end action continued in the second period before Real were awarded a 52nd-minute penalty following another controversial VAR intervention.
The ball rebounded off Bellingham and skimmed Eric Garcia's trailing arm and after checking the monitor again, Soto Grado pointed to the spot before Mbappe's penalty was well saved by Szczesny.
Both sides had other half-chances, with Barça's Jules Kounde heading off target and Mbappe firing wide in the closing stages.
With emotions running high at the final whistle, players from both sides, including the benches, exchanged heated words as they left the pitch.
