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When talking about Real Madrid games, the question is no longer “Bellingham again?” but rather how did Bellingham do this time? And so the days go by with nine wins in ten games and another comeback, although in Naples much less at the limit: this team in formation now looks more armed, always around the Englishman, scorer, assistant, recovery man night Europeans with more Crumbs from the group stage.
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Alex Meret, Natan, Mathías Olivera (Mário Rui, min. 88), Di Lorenzo, Leo Østigård, Lobotka (Jens Ctrabajo, min. 88), Zielinski (Giacomo Raspadori, min. 74), Franck Zambo (Giovanni Simeone, min. 88), Victor Osimhen, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Politano (Elmas, Min. 69)
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Arrizabalaga, Dani Carvajal, Rüdiger, Camavinga (Ferland Mendy, Min. 64), Nacho, Aurelien Tchouameni, Federico Valverde, Jude Bellingham, Kroos (Modric, Min. 64), Vinicius Junior (Dani Ceballos, Min. 84) and Rodrygo ( Joselu, Min. 74)
Goals 1-0 min 19: Leo Østigård. 1-1 min 26: Vinicius Junior. 1-2 min 33: Jude Bellingham. 2-2 min. 53: Zielinski. 2-3 min. 77: Alex Meret (S.).
referee Clement Turpin
Yellow cards Camavinga (min. 28), Natan (min. 45), Jude Bellingham (min. 70) and Arrizabalaga (min. 88)
The English language has quickly reached the point where comparisons to geniuses suddenly appear. In Naples, in the temple of one of the wildest deities in the history of football, he ran through his garden in a controlled manner. Until he reminded the world with a vague homage that he was doing all this in the context of Maradona’s conspiracy. He picked up the ball almost in the middle of the field and scored after passing the confused defenders. The journey was more or less Maradonic; the execution, rather Zidanese: the step, so long, so superior, compared to the pointillism of the Argentine step, his steps like pinching. He overcame and dodged in open space and then dribbled into a tiny space already in the penalty area, clearly still capable of hitting the net.
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If the sentence so above the level of the game had conjured up Maradona and Zidane, perhaps their maneuvers up to that point also had something of Benzema in them. Bellingham appeared near Kroos, ordered him and went with Vini or with Rodrygo.
The German conducted the orchestra, chose the tempo, distributed the ball. Napoli had given up the rudder near its territory and was ready to face Osimhen and Kvaratskhelia. Or wait for an opportunity from a set piece. Madrid controlled everything except the corners against them.
Kepa took a few steps away from his target to chase one and got lost. He couldn’t clarify. He saw the ball hovering a hand’s width from his fist. Natan headed the crossbar and Ostigard also headed the rebound and scored. The result did not correspond to the development of the game. Madrid looked behind again, but not as distracted as on other evenings.
Bellingham also performed there. He stole a bad pass from Di Lorenzo, advanced and left the ball to Vini, who equalized. The Brazilian had not scored a goal since August, a day on which the Englishman also assisted him. The goal served as a wake-up call after a month of injury. Until that moment, something unusual happened to Vini; all his attempts failed almost at the point at which they began. He lost the ball without making much progress. Nothing to do with the agitator, who gave up alone in front of the third defender, twenty meters in front of him. The goal revived him.
Also to Madrid, which came and came while Naples watched further and further back. Nothing worked as expected for the Italians. Osimhen was closely followed by Nacho, although he became bored and looked for opportunities to play near the middle of the pitch. They had Kvaratskhelia under control between Valverde and Carvajal, who had already deactivated him with Spain in Tbilisi a few weeks ago.
At Real everything went as planned by Bellingham, an indecipherable mobile enigma for the Naples defense. At times it was also a bit of Modric who started another evening on the bench. Ancelotti has found his team and the Croatian falls back a bit while Kroos remains in charge and Camavinga makes room for him at left-back despite having Mendy and Fran García. But the Italian wants Camavinga on the field and he doesn’t get into conflict there.
The game went downhill to the point where more goals seemed to be waiting for Real, but the progress was interrupted by one of those magnifying glass penalties. Nacho blocked a shot and the rebound hit his arm. Napoli came back to life with Zielinski’s goal. Kvaratskhelia evaded surveillance and within two minutes fired a shot and stretched with a slalom. In this short phase, Kepa also needed a stretch. But Madrid, getting stronger and stronger, closed the Naples window and took command again.
And to score points. Valverde was a few meters behind the front line. He unleashed a very powerful right hand, a missile that crossed the area without curving, shook the crossbar, hit Meret’s head and entered the room.
Madrid have survived another evening that started badly and are now alone in first place in their group, just as quickly as Bellingham.
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