It happened in overtime and on a pass from Lucas Vázquez, who was involved in all three home goals on a day when the league gold was practically secured.
Lucas Vázquez and Vinicius Junior teamed up for two equalizing goals earlier in the game, and Real Madrid increased their lead over league runners-up Barcelona to eleven points with six league rounds remaining.
Andreas Christensen and substitute Fermin López gave the visitors the lead each time at the Estádio Bernabeu, but the hope of creating new excitement in the golden game burst in the big game between teams that had very different experiences in midweek Champions League matches.
Eliminated Barcelona started with aggressive high pressure against semi-finalists Real Madrid, who made several mistakes. After five minutes, the visitors won the ball high, and Toni Kroos had to slide tackle Robert Lewandowski in the box and give a corner.
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Raphinha’s corner kick went over Andrej Lunin. The goalkeeping hero from the penalty victory over Manchester City completely miscalculated, and at the far post Christensen was able to tower over a passive Kroos and score the 1-0 goal.
Woke up
Real Madrid eventually woke up to death at home at the Bernabeu, and in the 18th minute Vinicius Junior was able to equalize with a penalty kick after a raid by Lucas Vázquez. The right-back first dribbled João Cancelo before he went inside the pitch and was brought down by Pau Cubarsi.
Marc-André ter Stegen was after the penalty, but Vinicius Junior could celebrate his 13th league goal of the season.
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In the 28th minute, another corner kick from Raphinha was about to give Barcelona the lead again. Lamine Yamal cheekily flicked at the near post, and most of the ball was over the line before Lunin was able to knock it out.
The VAR room looked at the various TV angles to determine whether the entire ball had gone in, but the images the viewers were able to see did not give a clear answer. After two and a half minutes, the conclusion was that there was no scoring.
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Drama
In overtime in the half, Real Madrid had a great chance when Jude Bellingham won the ball from Christensen high up the pitch and played Vinicius Junior through. Instead of shooting, he played to the side towards Rodrygo, and Christensen reached back with his tackling foot.
Barcelona got away with the scare, but immediately afterwards Frenkie de Jong had to be carried off in great pain after a duel. At half-time, Christensen was replaced by Fermín López, and it was the latter who scored the 2-1 goal.
He did so in the 69th minute after a great cross from Yamal. Ferrán Torres disturbed the goalkeeper, and Lunin gave the rebound straight to Fermín, who with a passive Aurélien Tchouaméni as a spectator put the ball into the goal.
The lead lasted only a few minutes. Then Vinicius Junior was played forward on the left and hit a perfect cross. Cancelo slept, and Lucas Vázquez was left all alone to score 2-2.
That seemed to be the result until Bellingham emerged in overtime and further increased their hero status in the capital club.