It wasn’t a classic but the chorus from the Santiago Bernabéu was. It had been a while and they had missed moments like this, but for the first time since April Fool’s Day Jude Bellingham stood before the south end with his arms wide, listening to them sing Hey Jude. There had been a shoulder injury, doubts about his role too, but now he had scored his first goal of the season, ultimately taking Real Madrid to a 1-0 win over a Juventus side that aren’t what they once were but who made a match of it. “We had to sweat for it,” Thibaut Courtois said.
He knew better than anyone, having to rescue a one on one from Dusan Vlahovic and make another decisive save from Khéphren Thuram in the very last minute to leave Madrid on nine points and Igor Tudor’s side below the cut in this league phase. At the end of a match with more shots than football, the Juventus manager may reflect on a decent start, those saves a great opportunity wasted on 85 minutes; their reality though makes worrying reading.
“An Italian team in trouble is twice as dangerous,” Xabi Alonso had said and Juventus, who hadn’t won since September, did cause Madrid problems at the beginning and again at the end. Madrid dominated possession, 66%-34%, but Juventus threatened in transition, especially with Pierre Kalulu running and Vlahovic linking, and would fire off 12 shots to go with 27 from the home side.
