Real Madrid edged past Juventus in the Champions League on Wednesday evening, with Jude Bellingham’s first goal of the season proving the difference between the two sides. The 15-time winners of the competition are now one of five teams with a 100 per cent record after three rounds of fixtures.
Much of the first half was cagey, with Juventus happy to defend and Real Madrid labouring to find a way through them. The home side did force nine corners, but few of them troubled Michele Di Gregorio. Juve’s goalkeeper was finally forced into genuine action on 40 minutes, when a smart stop with his face prevented a Kylian Mbappe shot from going in, before the half concluded with an Eder Militao shot that flew narrowly over.
The second half was conducted at a much faster tempo, with Dusan Vlahovic unlucky not to score from an early breakaway before Bellingham tucked home a rebound after Vinicius Junior’s initial shot had thumped the post. Xabi Alonso’s side had several chances to go further ahead, producing 28 shots in total, and although the sight of Raul Asencio limping off late on looked like a blow before Sunday’s Clasico against Barcelona, sources close to the player confirmed after the game that he was not injured.
Juventus, meanwhile, had late opportunities to equalise, but were denied by Thibaut Courtois, who was making his 300th appearance for the club.
Jack Lang, Dermot Corrigan and Anantaajith Raghuraman break down some of the key talking points.
Satisfaction for Madrid, concern for Juventus
This was, in some ways, quite an odd match. Real Madrid always seemed to have Juventus where they wanted them but also struggled to move through the gears in the final third. Juve set up conservatively, never really built up any momentum, yet remained in the game until the last. It was all quite low-key.
Madrid won’t care too much about that. They retain their perfect start to the group stage, with three wins from three; Alonso will soon be able to start thinking about rotation. This was also a confidence boost for their big appointment of the week: Sunday’s Clasico against Barcelona. With an overdue goal for Bellingham and some stout defending, this match ticked a few boxes.
Juventus head coach Igor Tudor is coming under pressure (Pierre-Philippe Marcou/AFP via Getty Images)
For Juve, the outlook is far less positive. They ended the evening in 25th place in the Champions League standings, outside of even the play-off spots. They have not won a match since they beat Inter 4-3 in Serie A, a run of seven games.
Their encouraging start to the season is a distant memory… and Igor Tudor will be bracing himself for renewed scrutiny in the days ahead.
Jack Lang
An opportune intervention from Jude Bellingham
His first goal of the season was well-timed, given Sunday’s upcoming Clasico against Barcelona, and the doubts that had surfaced in Spain about where he fits into Alonso’s new-look Madrid team.
Bellingham again played in an attacking midfield role in Alonso’s currently favoured 4-2-3-1 shape. Through the first half, he covered a lot of ground, without making too much impact on the game in the first half, as Juventus sat deep and allowed Madrid to keep possession in front of their defence.
The Englishman’s best moment in the opening 45 minutes came when some space did open up, after the referee collided with Juventus’ midfielder Weston McKennie. Bellingham immediately sensed the opportunity and ran deep in the opposition half, setting up Mbappe for a shot that was deflected just wide. Otherwise, he often looked to be trying hard to make things happen, but without much effect (see his player dashboard below).
As the game opened up after the break, Bellingham came more to the fore. His own pressing won the ball back deep in the Juve half, leading directly to a shot that he claimed (unsuccessfully) had struck a rival hand in the penalty area.
Bellingham’s goal showed why Alonso wants to play him closer to goal, rather than deeper in the ‘double pivot’ where Arda Guler accompanied Aurelien Tchouameni tonight. When Vinicius Jr’s low cross-shot hit the far post, Bellingham was the quickest to react to the loose ball, and stabbed an unstoppable finish to the net to break the deadlock.
Jude Bellingham celebrates his goal (Thomas Coex/AFP via Getty Images)
That instinct for goal has proved very useful for Madrid in past Clasicos, and Alonso seems likely to keep him in that No 10/attacking midfield role for Sunday’s huge clash.
Dermot Corrigan
Arda better, faster, stronger
A couple of days before Juventus played Real Madrid at the Club World Cup last summer, Kenan Yildiz got a video call. It was from one of the players he would be lining up against in Miami. It was also from a friend.
Arda Guler and Yildiz go back a long way. They first played together at youth level for Turkey. Now they are the stars of their country’s senior team, two little attacking diamonds. They have a lot in common: talent, sure, but also responsibility, expectation. They are only 20 but you’d never know it from the demands placed on them.
Here, set in opposition, they had a night of contrasting fortunes.
Kenan Yildiz has impressed this season (Angel Martinez/Getty Images)
Yildiz, surprisingly, captained Juventus — the reward, said Tudor, for his eye-catching form in the first months of the season. But the attacker was unable to pay his manager back as he might have liked: Yildiz spent most of the first half miles from goal and was not involved in Juve’s best attacks. He produced a bit more after the interval but nothing that will trouble his highlight reel.
Arda Guler puts pressure on Khephren Thuram (Thomas Coex/AFP via Getty Images)
It was a different story for Guler. He was involved in everything for Madrid, whittling away at the Juventus defence with a never-ending series of clever passes. There were a couple of insouciant little flicks, moments of unassuming, off-the-cuff genius. He plays — and I really do mean this as a compliment — like a turbo-charged Guti, the coolest guy at the party.
Yildiz will come again. He is an incredible player on his day, as watchable as a street fight. Here, though, Guler was the clear winner of the battle of the young Turks.
Jack Lang
How did Weston McKennie get on?
In a match filled with midfield quality, McKennie largely flew under the radar with a steady display.
Weston McKennie competes with Jude Bellingham (Pierre-Philippe Marcou/AFP via Getty Images)
Juventus’ set-up often left the USMNT star needing to mop up alongside Khephren Thuram in the middle of the pitch, with Teun Koopmeiners alternating between dropping deep and joining the front line. McKennie did largely well and put in a busy performance, winning four of his six ground duels and making himself available to receive passes during Juventus’ brief spells in possession.
A largely defensive role meant McKennie completed just 10 passes in the opening 70 minutes of the match. He did force a good save from Courtois, who turned the shot around the post. Tudor’s side also used his long throws into the box, though they were largely ineffective.
Anantaajith Raghuraman
A landmark appearance for Thibaut Courtois
Tonight was Courtois’ 300th game for Real Madrid, and it was not the first time that he had to make key saves at crucial moments in a game his team went on to win.
4 – Thibaut Courtois is making his 300th appearance for Real Madrid in all competitions, becoming the fourth goalkeeper with the most appearances in the history of the club, behind Iker Casillas (725), Paco Buyo (456) and Miguel Ángel (346). Giant. pic.twitter.com/Y4YpgFDz7F
— OptaJose (@OptaJose) October 22, 2025
Juventus had the best of the opening stages, with Madrid playing lots of sideways passes and the visitors causing danger with more direct play on the break. The visitors had the first two efforts on target of the game — but Courtois went full length to divert McKennie’s long-range effort around the post, and soon afterwards showed smart reflexes to stop a well-struck effort from Federico Gatti.
The Belgian’s most impressive moment came early in the second half, when slack covering allowed Dusan Vlahovic to break clear after a Real Madrid corner. The Belgian ‘keeper made himself huge, though, and pulled off an excellent save with his thigh. He also followed that with a trademark bellow at his team-mates for not providing enough protection.
With the game still scoreless, Courtois also did well to push away Andrea Cambiaso’s shot from inside the area. Soon after that — as has also happened quite often during recent years — Madrid punished opponents who had failed to find a way past their ‘keeper by scoring the opening goal themselves.
Courtois’ first 299 games for Madrid saw him keep 118 clean sheets — including during victories in the 2022 and 2024 Champions League finals against Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund. Tonight was not as important an occasion, but their goalkeeper remains absolutely vital if Madrid are to have any success in this season’s competition.
Dermot Corrigan
What next for Real Madrid?
Sunday, October 26: Barcelona (home), La Liga, 3:15pm UK/11:15am ET
What next for Juventus?
Sunday, October 26: Lazio (away), Serie A, 7:45pm UK/3:45pm ET
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