Mbappé: Victory sends a good message to competitors

Kylian Mbappé, the Spanish La Liga club Real Madrid’s forward, celebrated the team’s “collective victory” over Barcelona, which reignited Real’s title challenge, and said the win sent a “good message” to their rivals.

Mbappé scored two goals in Sunday’s El Clásico, including his 100th goal in a Real Madrid shirt, to lead his side to a 2-1 win over Barcelona. The result narrowed the gap between the two sides to three points in favor of the Catalan club.

Speaking to Real Madrid’s television channel, Mbappé said: “In the end, winning and staying in the title race is extremely important for us. But we have to keep working. We know it’s a big match, but it’s worth three points, and we need to gather a lot of points to win the league.”

He added: “We sent a good message, but we can’t think that the season is over, because things are not yet decided.”

Real Madrid remain one point behind second-placed Atlético Madrid, after securing five consecutive wins across all competitions since the international break.

Mbappé said: “It’s a collective win. The credit goes to the team and the group, because we knew we had to play with courage, but also with a team spirit. We prepared well in our recent matches, won the games, and delivered a good performance. We entered this match with the right mindset and gave everything we had.”

Had Barcelona won, they would have extended their lead over Real Madrid to nine points and become the first team to win all of their first ten La Liga matches. Barcelona had already equaled Real’s record of nine wins in their first nine matches, set during the 1968-1969 season.

However, Mbappé ended Barcelona’s winning streak with his 87th-minute winner, bringing his tally to 100 goals in 116 appearances for Real Madrid.