Kylian Mbappe scored twice, including an 87th minute counter attack finish, as Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid beat Barcelona 2-1 at Camp Nou on Sunday, ending the hosts’ perfect start to the La Liga season in a tense El Clasico.
Real Madrid, without the suspended Vinicius Jr and flu hit Thibaut Courtois, began with Fede Valverde at right back and a clear counter attacking plan. Arda Guler pounced on a poor Pedri pass in the fourth minute and sent his effort over the bar.
Mourinho used man marking, with Marc Cucurella tracking Lamine Yamal and Jude Bellingham following Rodri. Barcelona’s first real chance came from a Dean Huijsen error, but Lamine Yamal’s shot rolled through to Lunin as referee Juan Martinez let the game flow.
Barcelona replaced an ailing Xavi Espart with Alejandro Balde in the 28th minute, moving Joao Cancelo to right back. Real kept probing on the break, and Mbappe sent an acrobatic effort high over the bar from Guler’s cross in the 33rd minute.
Mbappe’s opener arrived in the 41st minute, and it owed plenty to luck. Cucurella’s forward ball found Yan Diomande, whose low cross was cleared by Gerard Martin, only for the ball to ricochet off Mbappe and past Joan Garcia.
Barcelona’s best reply was Lamine Yamal’s miskick wide from a tight angle in the 43rd minute. In stoppage time Mbappe hit the post, though the flag was up, and Diomande then fired into the side netting after beating nervous defenders to the ball.
Real led 1-0 at the interval, their plan working well against an out of sorts side. Barcelona’s press rarely trapped them, Pedri gave the ball away too often, and a high defensive line was exposed to repeated counter attacks.
Barcelona improved after the restart and levelled in the 61st minute. From a short corner, Pedri played a disguised reverse pass to Raphinha, who fired through Bellingham’s legs into the far corner, with Lunin getting a hand to it but unable to keep it out.
It was Raphinha’s 13th La Liga goal in 631 minutes this season. Soon after, Gerard Martin headed a corner from six yards, only for Lunin, deputising for Courtois, to claw it away one handed and keep the scores level.
Real began to tire after Denzel Dumfries replaced Valverde in the 63rd minute. Barcelona grew livelier and hardly let them touch the ball, Lamine Yamal dragging a left footed shot wide in the 78th minute and Huijsen blocking another effort with his head.
Gordon was booked for tackling Guler in the 84th minute, with replays suggesting he won the ball first. Karim Adeyemi and Gabriel Jesus replaced Gordon and Raphinha, with a draw looking the likeliest result, while Mbappe and Bellingham waited to pounce on the break.
The winner came in the 87th minute, and it was Mbappe’s 100th goal for Los Blancos. Bellingham danced round Jesus and backheeled to Eduardo Camavinga, who beat Pau Cubarsi and cut the ball back for Mbappe to roll it into an empty net.
Mourinho celebrated with a small knee slide by the dugout and a fist pump. Five minutes of added time followed, with Cucurella and Mbappe booked and Balde cautioned for a reckless foul on Mbappe, a flashpoint that calmed after the final whistle.
At full time Mourinho embraced Hansi Flick briefly before joining his players on the pitch. Barcelona had 18 shots to Real’s 10 and 62 per cent possession, but Real’s 1.95 xG against 1.19 showed how efficiently they used the counter.
A tenth successive victory would have put Barcelona nine points clear and past Real’s 1968-69 record for the best league start. Instead, the bragging rights belong to Mourinho, whose side showed on the break precisely why they were never going to be easy to beat.
Mourinho has now gone six Clasicos without defeat, four wins and two draws, a sequence reaching back to his earlier time at the Bernabeu. Only two Real coaches have done better: Miguel Munoz between 1962 and 1965, and Vicente del Bosque from 2001 to 2003.
Flick’s side arrived on a 23 game home winning run in La Liga and had won six of the last seven meetings with Real, a head to head record that favoured them heavily, though a Champions League defeat to PSG had come in midweek.
Real had thrashed Leipzig 4-1 at the Bernabeu but lost league games away to Atletico and Betis. Mourinho was back in a Clasico for the first time since 2013, in the 265th meeting, with both clubs level on 106 wins beforehand.
Barcelona still lead Atletico Madrid by two points after 10 games, with Real one point further back in third. Real’s win also puts them ahead in the all time Clasico record.