Barcelona won the last Clasico of the season with another remontada, coming back from 2 goals down. Goals by Eric Garcia, Raphinha, and Lamine Yamal gave La Blaugrana a 4-2 lead in the first half. Pedri gave an assist to Raphinha after winning the ball, and Ferran Torres had a hat-trick of assists. In this dominating attacking display from Barcelona, Frenkie de Jong’s performance went under the radar. The Ditch Maestro not only orchestrated the game alongside Pedri, but he also neutralised one of the biggest attacking threats of Real Madrid: Bellingham.
Bellingham’s importance in Real Madrid’s attack
In the previous Clasico, the Copa del Rey final, Barcelona won dramatically after a 3-2 remontada in extra time. Bellingham was key in Real Madrid’s buildup and attack, creating 2 big chances. The English midfielder completed 4/4 dribbles and won 13/16 duels. When building out from the back, Real Madrid tried to find Bellingham. After receiving the ball, he would pass it into space for MbappĂ© and Vinicius to exploit. To emerge victorious in the last Clasico of the season, Hansi Flick knew he had to suppress Bellingham’s influence on the game. The man tasked with dealing with this mission was Frenkie de Jong.
Defensive protection against Bellingham
In off the ball phase, Hansi Flick had instructed de Jong to stay close to Bellingham. Whenever the English midfielder received the ball de Jong applied immediate pressure on him. This prevented Bellingham from turning and the result was either he lost the ball or passed backwards. Bellingham ended up having only a 76% passing success and created 0 chances throughout the match.
Aerial duel won
Real Madrid attempted to feed Bellingham through long balls, making use of his tall athletic build. Pedri would have a disadvantage in battling Bellingham for the aerial duels. Frenkie made sure he was the one engaging him timing his jumps perfectly and won 2 duels. Making the English midfielder further useless for Los Blancos.
Numerical advantage and press resistance
Defending with the ball has always been the Barça way to defend, and the Dutch maestro did it perfectly alongside Pedri. Pedri and Frenkie created a double pivot, which gave them a numerical advantage against Bellingham. Madrid’s number 5 was forced to run a lot to apply pressure, which caused Barça’s midfield little problem but frustrated Bellingham a lot. Barcelona enjoyed 62% possession in this game, keeping the ball away from Real Madrid’s midfield and effectively defending their lead till the final whistle.
The goals, assists, and dribbles often outshine performances like these. Frenkie de Jong displayed a midfield masterclass in this Clasico orchestrating the game alongside midfield maestro Pedri. Frenkie provides this Barcelona team with so much and I am happy he is finally shining up to his potential under Hansi Flick.