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It may not have been a classic encounter, the roar from the Madrid's home stadium was familiar. After a long wait, Jude Bellingham finally stood before the home supporters with his arms outstretched, basking in the crowd's rendition of Hey Jude. Following a lengthy layoff and questions about his position, he scored his first goal of the campaign, eventually delivering a narrow win for Real Madrid over a Juventus side that made them work hard. “We had to sweat for it,” stated the Belgian goalkeeper.

Decisive Stops Secure the Victory

Courtois understood perfectly well, having to rescue a one-on-one from Dušan Vlahović and make another decisive save from Khéphren Thuram in the final minute. This result puts Madrid on nine points and Igor Tudor’s team outside the qualifying spots. At the end of a match with plenty of attempts but little elegance, the visiting coach may reflect on a decent start, with those opportunities representing a missed chance around the 85-minute mark; their current situation though makes for concerning reading.

“An Italian team in difficulty is doubly threatening,” the Madrid coach had warned in advance.

Juventus, who hadn’t won since September, posed Madrid problems at the beginning and again near the end. Madrid dominated the ball, 66%-34%, but Juventus threatened on the break, particularly with Pierre Kalulu surging forward and the striker combining, managing 12 shots compared to the hosts' twenty-seven.

Promising Start for Visitors

They had started well, certainly. After just three minutes, they believed they were ahead, Vlahović somewhat unlucky to be called for pulling Éder Militão. Shortly after, Raúl Asencio had to slide in front of Vlahović when Kalulu broke free on the right. And soon after, the American midfielder's effort was pushed wide.

What followed, from the defender's powerful strike, was a more impressive stop. Fifteen minutes had gone. That said, quickly the Italians' momentum had faded too. Madrid assumed command. Mostly it was rather mechanical, however, and the three best opportunities fell to Aurélien Tchouaméni, who is not the coach's preferred forward. A couple were off target, a third took a deflection; another headed opportunity was missed by Militão.

Guler Shines

The best moments came from Arda Güler. Güler, whose football was the closest there was to fluidity, was always involved. His neat stop and turn saw him clip to the back post for Bellingham.

Little was seen of the French superstar early on, but when he finally emerged it was the closest Madrid came to scoring. First his attempt was denied by the Juventus keeper, who would produce eight saves. Then some lovely fast footwork saw him turn the full-back repeatedly until he went down to the turf and set up his teammate to blast over.

Late Tension

Militão dived to stop the runner at the start of the second period, and then came the customary save from the keeper when suddenly the attacker was away. The “assist” had been quite something, with the defender cutting out a ball inside his own area and the ball bouncing from the inside of his foot right through the middle to beyond the halfway line. Sprinting after it, huge space opening, Vlahović outpaced Militão, holding him off and heading into the box where the keeper saved.

Next the usual pattern happened, the stop made good by the score that follows it. A burst from Vinícius Júnior set up it, creating enough room amid multiple defenders to unleash a driven effort which struck the post. Lurking in that forward position was the goalscorer. The breakthrough found, Madrid should have finished it, Mbappé stopped by the keeper and the Uruguayan seeing his half-volley blocked by the defender. Then Di Gregorio made a brilliant double stop from the forward and Brahim Díaz.

There were more scares: as the match was drawing to a close, the defender had to make a stunning sliding block as Madrid were exposed and at the risk of Loïs Openda unmarked in the penalty box. Then in the dying moments Courtois flew in to deny the midfielder, his work complete. For the visitors, there was no route to a comeback, the opening goal of the campaign the final of the encounter.

“I'm overjoyed, a while now since I’ve found the net, a period out and dreaming of that moment, back in the Champions League and against a major opponent. To get the decisive goal, in our stadium, it’s unbelievable. I felt comfortable, really good. To perform was crucial and to score the winning goal benefits the team a lot.”

As for his form, he added: “I didn’t think last year was a failure, with 15 goals, fourteen setups, but I understand the general feeling was that it was worse. But I was a contributor to that, how we underperformed last year, there were still positive spells but not the level I aim to play at, not the level like the debut season. Now I’ve had my operation, a different coach, he’s got that system, how we intend to play…. You have to learn from it.”