Jude Bellingham bagged another goal and an assist in a crucial away win for Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday evening.
A thoroughly entertaining clash between Madrid and Napoli at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona was won by the visitors 3-2 thanks to goals from Bellingham, Vinicius Junior and an unfortunate own goal from Alex Meret late in the game.
How the game unfolded
As expected, it was Real Madrid who came closest to scoring in the early exchanges. The chance would, as expected too, be created by Jude Bellingham who played a lovely through ball into the path of Rodrygo. After racing into the box, however, Rodrygo saw his effort on goal palmed clear of danger by Alex Meret.
Despite largely dominating the opening 20 minutes, Madrid would find themselves behind thanks to some laughably poor goalkeeping from Kepa Arrizabalaga.
The loanee completely missed an attempted punch clearance of a corner kick to allow Natan to head off the crossbar. After the ball bounced off the bar, Leo Ostigard was quickest to react and nod home the follow-up.
Madrid soon found a route back into the game through their two attacking superstars. Bellingham was able to latch onto a loose pass from Giovanni Di Lorenzo in his own defensive third before sliding the ball through to Vinicius Junior on the left of the penalty area. In typical Vini fashion, the Brazilian was able to open his body up and beautifully curl the ball into the far bottom corner of the net.
The visitors thoroughly dominated the remaining minutes of the first half, and deservedly took the lead before the half-time whistle through Bellingham (who else?). The brilliant attacking midfielder rushed into the penalty box, danced past Ostigard and then found the corner of the net in quite sublime fashion. He is different gravy.
Shortly after going behind, Napoli woke up a bit and nearly levelled through their star man Victor Osimhen. The striker rose highest in the penalty box to get his head on a Matteo Politano cross from the right flank but saw his resulting effort well saved by Kepa.
Napoli were given a lifeline in the game at the start of the second half when, following a lengthy VAR check, referee Clement Turpin pointed to the spot having deemed a Nacho Fernandez handball worthy of admonishment.
Piotr Zielinski stepped up to take the resulting spot it and duly converted it – drilling off the post and into the net.
That equaliser sparked Napoli’s frontline into life, with Zielinski forcing Kepa into a smart save with a long-range effort and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia hitting the side-netting with another.
After weathering that storm, Federico Valverde went and did what he does best in the 77th minute – fired the ball goalward at about 1000mph – to give Madrid a 3-2 lead. The Uruguayan latched onto a loose ball 25 yards from goal and cannoned it off the crossbar, then off the back of Meret, and into the net.
It’ll go down as an own goal, but it was basically another thunderous and memorable Valverde one.
GK: Kepa Arrizabalaga – 3/10 – His utterly dreadful goalkeeping led to Napoli taking an early lead.
RB: Dani Carvajal – 6/10 – He did a decent job up against Kvaratskhelia.
CB: Antonio Rudiger – 5/10 – Beaten in the air a few too many times by Osimhen.
CB: Nacho Fernandez – 5/10 – His rather bad week continued in Naples as, after being sent off at the weekend, he gave away a penalty on Tuesday evening.
LB: Eduardo Camavinga – 5/10 – Back at left-back and didn’t excel as much as he’s done in the past, being beaten by Politano a few times on the flank.
CM: Federico Valverde – 7/10 – No one else can strike the ball the way Valverde can. His 25-yard thunderbolt led to Madrid’s third goal of the evening.
CM: Aurelien Tchouameni – 7/10 – Put in plenty of important tackles in midfield. Worked his socks off.
CM: Toni Kroos – 6/10 – A typical Kroos performance: 96% pass accuracy as per.
AM: Jude Bellingham – 9/10 – Another fantastic goal and another fantastic assist. What else is there to say about the guy? He’s unbelievable.
ST: Rodryo Goes – 5/10 – Missed a decent chance early on. He just can’t seem to buy a goal at the moment.
ST: Vinicius Junior – 8/10 – Scored a lovely goal to level for his side. Looked back to his best on Tuesday evening.
Substitutes
SUB: Ferland Mendy (64′ for Camavinga) – 6/10 – Tidy when introduced.
SUB: Luka Modric (64′ for Kroos) – 6/10 – Sured up the midfield when he came on.
SUB: Joselu (75′ for Rodrygo) – 6/10.
SUB: Dani Ceballos (83′ for Vinicius) – N/A.
Manager – Carlo Ancelotti – 7/10 – You can see why he’s built his team around Bellingham. It makes a lot of sense.
Player of the match – Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid)
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