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It was nearly an ideal outing from the Madrid side, as they overcame Barca 2-1 during the famous derby and increase their advantage in first place of La Liga with a five-point cushion.

The English midfielder scored his inaugural league goal along with assist this term following a tough few months healing from shoulder surgery.

The French forward showed his deadly performance in front of goal, and the manager's strategy in his first Clasico as coach proved brilliantly.

Yet the issue surrounding Vinicius emerged again yet again.

Dissatisfied with coming off, the star forward complained while walking straight past the coach before headed down the tunnel, before reappearing to the substitute area later.

Alonso System Yields Success for the Midfielder

For a debut Clasico, it was a solid start, especially since the majority of Madrid's recent coaches were defeated in their initial La Liga match with Barcelona.

Following the player-focused approach under Ancelotti fell short in the previous campaign, Alonso's positional game-model produced an important victory.

An expert commented, “He got it spot on. Madrid were impressive, and Barca were off-color due to the home team's approach.”

Defensively, they applied pressure consistently, and when bypassed, they tracked back in an organised way, everybody even Vinicius.”

The team's shape in two lines separated by a short distance. The opposition could not find a way through.”

This approach appears to be good news for Bellingham, who previously was expected to do everything in midfield and beyond.

On paper the young star played on the right, but in practice he had the freedom to drift inward and link with Mbappe or enter the box.

The analyst stated, Employing Eduardo Camavinga in the center, this provides increased movement and better ability to shut down the channels.”

This led to them to deploy Bellingham wide right. Undoubtedly he would have been asked to keep an eye on the forward's positioning when he had the ball and had space, connecting with him repeatedly.”

“He was asked to move into the penalty area and position himself near just outside the box, where he is very dangerous. He also came inside to cut off passing options and make Barca's task very difficult.”

Vinicius Tensions Revealed

There's no doubting that the fans are fond of the Brazilian, calls for him were sung on several occasions by a fervent home supporters.

But recently there were numerous stories lately that Real Madrid could entertain selling him should a suitable bid was made.

Vinicius will have one season to go under his current terms when this term concludes, but discussions on a renewal have not progressed.

His response when substituted in the second half spoke of tension. Post-game, he had to be restrained as he tried to approach the Barcelona player.

The analyst noted, Many will criticize him and rightly so, because it showed a lack of respect for the substitute taking his place.”

Yet, growing up, he has lived in a hostile world, and perceives that everyone is against him.”

Such thinking is tough to overcome, particularly since you believe close to being number one in the world, then the club drives the axis in favor of Mbappe as the star.”

During this campaign he's felt that the club is not defending him. There are stories, perhaps from within, or with the club not denying it, that they might accept a bid of 250m euros to sign him and let him go.”

He is aware of this, and when the coach substituted him – reasonably, because Vinicius stopped dropping back as expected – to him he questions ‘why me, why me again?.”

It may be challenging to mend relations with the club and him now.”

Barca's Approach “Struggles”

Having triumphed in all four of previous campaign's Clasicos, Sunday's performance was emblematic of Barcelona's unconvincing start to the campaign.

Injuries have robbed Hansi Flick of important stars such as Raphinha, the striker plus others, and the tactical setup is failing without them.

The expert stated, Barcelona appear lack sharpness defensively, less hungry to recover it, softer in pressing.”

They are more vulnerable to break them down. If the defensive line is flawed, which was the case the Mbappe goal since the defender failed to step up, the midfield doesn't assist by teammates not challenging those on the ball as expected.”

The young talent, the main threat earlier, was neutralized.

“Their stars weren't at their best. Yamal appears he's in good form, perhaps he's suffering from injury issues