X reacts to Jude Bellingham's brace for Real Madrid against Barcelona in El Clasico

Jude Bellingham stamped his name all over his El Clasico debut with a second-half brace to win the game for Real Madrid at the home of Barcelona on Saturday afternoon.

Long before Bellingham's heroics, three white shirts were paralysed, leaving the loose ball for one another. Ilkay Gundogan raced between the indecision, powered through a weak tackle from David Alaba and tucked it under Kepa Arrizabalaga for his first goal in Barcelona's colours.

Gundogan is no stranger to a strike on the big occasions. As a Borussia Dortmund player, Gundogan converted his spot kick in the 2013 Champions League final against Bayern Munich in the most important Der Klassiker ever.

The German famously bagged a brace on the final day of the 2021/22 campaign to ensure Manchester City beat Aston Villa and pip Liverpool to the league title. Gundogan's final goal in sky blue was not only in the derby against Manchester United but on the grand stage of the FA Cup final after a handful of seconds.

Other on-lookers were more concerned with Madrid's passive and porous approach at the back.

Xavi deployed his familiar tactic of clamping Ronald Araujo on Vinicius Junior. The forceful Uruguayan got touch-tight to his fellow South American at every given opportunity, taking advantage of the whistle-shy referee Jesus Gil Manzano.

Midway through the first half, Vinicius complained of a foul which the referee didn't see and inadvertently entered into a dialogue with Xavi on the side of the pitch. Carlo Ancelotti felt compelled to wander over in a bid to calm Vinicius down.

Real Madrid limped into the half-time interval after a desperately tepid opening 45 minutes. There was a slight bump in performance after the break - they could hardly get worse - but Barcelona appeared pretty comfortable. Until Bellingham swung his right leg through the ball.

Midway through the second half, up against one of the best goalkeepers in the world from at least 25 yards, Bellingham crashed Madrid back into El Clasico.

Suddenly, the momentum swung in favour of the visitors, with the fervent crowd on the hill in Barcelona growing nervy. With Bellingham on the pitch, it seems that every opponent better be wary.

As the clock ticked into added time, Bellingham reacted sharpest to a loose ball inside the box, back where he has feasted so often this term, to prod between Marc-Andre ter Stegen's legs.

Astonishment was the immediate reaction of many.

While some even turned their attention to the Ballon d'Or award ceremony next week.

This year's Ballon d'Or only takes into account performances from the 2022/23 season but Bellingham's blistering start has made him an early front-runner for next year's award.

READ THE LATEST LA LIGA NEWS, RUMOURS & GOSSIP