Champions League: Bellingham's strike sees Madrid past Juventus

Madrid, Oct 23 (IANS) Real Madrid beat Juventus 1-0 at the Bernabeu to continue their flawless start to the Champions League campaign and make it nine points from three games.

Madrid dominated the first half, but it wasn't until after the break when they broke the deadlock, Bellingham turning home on 57’ after Vini Jr.'s fine effort came back off the post.

Xabi Alonso's boys quickly took control of the ball, but a well-drilled five-man defence made it difficult to carve out too many opportunities around the opposition box. The visitors set up to counter-attack, and posed a threat with long-distance efforts as well.

McKennie and Gatti both tried their luck in the opening quarter of an hour, but Courtois was on hand to keep them out. Arda Guler's 16th-minute corner was headed towards goal by Tchouameni, but the ball ended up in Di Gregorio's gloves.

Halfway through the first period, Brahim was on the end of a swift transition, but his shot across goal was well turned behind for a corner by the visiting goalkeeper. Valverde swung the ball in, and Tchouameni's effort from inside the area was deflected wide by Kalulu as it looked set to find the back of the net.

Madrid's clearest chances came on the stroke of half-time. The first fell to Mbappe, who picked up Brahim's impressive pass and unleashed a powerful left-footed drive from inside the box, but Di Gregorio's superb reaction stop denied the Frenchman on 40’. Three minutes later, he danced away from Cambiaso with some sublime skill and pulled the ball back for Militao, who fired over.

The second half got underway with a warning shot, as Vlahovic raced through one-on-one with Courtois on 50', following a mazy run that began inside his own half, but our goalkeeper came out on top. Seven minutes later, and Real Madrid were in front.

Some lovely individual play by Vini Jr. saw him surrounded by opposition defenders, but he still managed to squeeze a shot off. When it came back off the upright, Bellingham was in just the right place.

From there to the end, Madrid barely gave the opposition a sniff, closing the game out well to clinch a big win with just four days to go until the Clasico.

--IANS

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