"Closer to a Scott McTominay than a Pedri", "World class ghosting session" - Fans call out Real Madrid star after loss to Barcelona

Real Madrid fans were unimpressed with Jude Bellingham's performance in their 5-2 defeat to Barcelona in the Supercopa de Espana final on Sunday, January 12. The English midfielder disappeared in the clash as he was marked out of the game in the first half and wasn't much better in the second.

The match played at the King Abdullah Sports City in Saudi Arabia was the second El Clasico match between Real Madrid and Barcelona this season. Both sides had initially met in October at the Santiago Bernabeu, with the Catalan club getting the better of their archrivals in a 4-0 drubbing.

Real Madrid got off to a flying start as they broke the deadlock five minutes into the match. Kylian Mbappe put his side ahead after Vinicius found him in the breakaway of a typical Los Blancos counterattack.

Lamine Yamal restored parity for Barcelona in the 22nd minute, cutting inside on his deadly left foot and curling the ball past Thibaut Courtois.

Hansi Flick's men turned the game on its head before the break, scoring three more goals in addition to Yamal’s goal to take a comfortable 4-1 lead. Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha, and Alejandro Balde were the three other goalscorers for La Blaugrana in the first half.

Raphinha compounded Los Blancos' woes three minutes after the restart to get his second and Barcelona's fifth on the night.

Eight minutes later, Real Madrid were handed a lifeline of an unlikely comeback as Barca goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny was shown a red card.

The decision proved costly for Barcelona as Rodrygo reduced the deficit from the resulting free kick. Hansi Flick's men, however, held to their lead and cruised to their first piece of Spanish silverware this season.

While almost all Real Madrid players had a game to forget, Jude Bellingham's demoralizing performance surprised the Los Blancos faithful.

The England midfielder lost possession eight times, only had 41 touches in the entire 90 minutes he played, and had a rating of 6.6 as per Sofascore.

After the match, fans took to X to call out Bellingham for his display.

An X user wrote:

''Jude Bellingham has mastered the art of looking busy on a football pitch. The casuals love it, the analytics guys love it, I see through it. He is not elite in any sense of the word, closer to a Scott McTominay than a Pedri or a Musiala . A 6/10 on his best day. Overrated.''

Another tweeted:

''World class ghosting session from Vinicius and Bellingham. The only time I saw Vini during the game was when he fouled Kounde and should’ve been sent off😭''

''How on Earth can someone with a functioning brain think Bellingham is even close to Pedri'' @hazfcb_ wrote

''Jude Bellingham El Clasico in Cup Final: 90 Minutes, 0 Goals/Assists, 0 Crosses, 0 Dribbles, 0 Tackles. EL CARDIO MAN OF THE MATCH'' @TheHateCentral pointed out his unwanted stats

''Pedri and Bellingham went h2h today we saw who controlled the midfield'' @messiah_07 chimed in

''Where was Bellingham today?'' @Ch1bakuTense1_ asked

Carlo Ancelotti says Real Madrid did not "defend well" after 5-2 thrashing Barcelona

Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti assessed his side's performance after they fell to another heavy defeat against Barcelona for the second time this season.

The Italian manager said his team didn't defend well and claimed they conceded very easy goals. Ancelotti said via the Real Madrid website;

"We have to look at the reality and that is that we did not defend well in the opposition half or with the low block. They scored goals very easily and we didn't work well either collectively or individually because we lost a lot of duels. We are sad and disappointed and we’ll take that sadness home with us. That's football.

Our sadness is our fans’ sadness, but we have no option but to look forward and get back the good spirit that has been in the group until this game”.

“The game was not good from the first minute to the last. With an extra man, we were not able to find solutions. I'm sad about the game as a whole. I can't take anything away from it except Mbappé's performance, who scored a great goal in a good move. We have to forget about the rest and look forward”.

Real Madrid's 5-2 loss in the Spanish Super Cup final on Sunday night means Barcelona has now won the trophy two times more than they have won it. Barca has won it 15 times while Los Blancos has won it 13 times.