Real Madrid is now seven points away from winning the La Liga title for the 2023/2024 season after Jude Bellingham scored a late goal to secure a 3-2 victory for Los Blancos over Barcelona in an interesting Clasico fixture at Santiago Bernabeu on Sunday.

Carlo Ancelotti’s side welcomed the incumbent champion, knowing fully well that a defeat to Xavi’s side would throw the La Liga title race open and reduce their lead to five points.

So it wasn’t a surprise when Andreas Christensen opened the scoring for Barcelona after just five minutes. The Blaugrana know that their only chance of winning a title this season remains solely on retaining the La Liga title.

Twelve minutes later, Real Madrid equalized with a penalty from Vinicius Junior, and just before the half-hour mark, the first controversial decision of the game happened when Lamine Yamal’s strike was disallowed as VAR deemed it not to have crossed the line.

Both teams went into the break with a 1-1 scoreline, although Barcelona was struck by an injury blow, with Frankie de Jong getting substituted due to an ankle injury. Barcelona took the lead in the second half through Fermin Lopez in the 68 minute.

Lucas leveled the game 5 minutes later, and he then provided the winner for Jude Bellingham in the stoppage time for the English midfielder to strike and put Real Madrid One step closer to another La Liga title.

Real Madrid now has an 11-point gap between themselves and Barcelona, and they remain in contention for the double with the UEFA Champions League still available to them.

Real Madrid will face Bayern Munich in the semi-final of the UEFA Champions League, and they need just seven points to become the champions of Spain, irrespective of whatever Barcelona does in the remaining six matches of this season.

Daniel Ademiju Idowu