Spanish League: Mbappe Gifts Real Madrid Victory in El Clásico Against Barcelona

French star Kylian Mbappé gifted his team, Real Madrid, and their Portuguese manager José Mourinho victory in the Clásico against traditional rivals Barcelona, who were the reigning champions and league leaders, by scoring the two winning goals in a 2-1 win on Sunday at the “Camp Nou” in the tenth round.

Mourinho halted Barcelona’s dominance in his first Clásico since returning to the capital club, stopping the side led by German manager Hansi Flick, who had won six of their last seven meetings with Real Madrid.

According to Opta statistics, Mourinho became the third Real Madrid manager to achieve a streak of six consecutive unbeaten matches against Barcelona, following Miguel Muñoz (between 1962 and 1965) and Vicente del Bosque (between 2001 and 2003).

This victory provides a significant morale boost for the 63-year-old, who is reviving his career in Madrid after two modest spells with Turkish club Fenerbahçe and Portuguese club Benfica.

It marks Real Madrid’s fourth consecutive win across all competitions, and their eighth in their last nine matches.

The result reduced Real Madrid’s gap with Barcelona to three points, handing Barcelona their first league loss of the season, and their second consecutive defeat across all competitions, following their loss to French club Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League earlier in the week.

In Barcelona, Real Madrid entered the match without Brazilian winger Vinícius Júnior, who was suspended after receiving a red card two weeks prior, and also missed Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, whose absence was announced hours before the match due to a flu-like illness.

The home side, meanwhile, were missing several key players, most notably Frenchman Jules Koundé, Eric García, Dani Olmo, and Dane Andreas Christensen. The team appeared surprisingly lackluster, especially in the first half.

Pedri told streaming platform DAZN, “Overall, we didn’t play a great match. In the first half, we weren’t ourselves, and there were many things we could have done better.”

He added, “We wanted to win the Clásico in front of our fans, but the season is very long… the league isn’t decided here.”

The first threat came from Turkish player Arda Güler, who fired a powerful shot inside the box that went over Barcelona’s goal (5th minute), and then tried again with a direct shot that was saved by goalkeeper Joan García (18th minute).

Brazilian winger Raphinha responded twice, first with a shot over the bar (22nd minute) and then with one wide of the target (24th minute).

Barcelona suffered a heavy blow when right-back Chavi Espart was forced off due to injury (30th minute), after French midfielder Aurélien Tchouaméni had fouled his leg minutes earlier, with the referee issuing only a verbal warning.

Englishman Anthony Gordon tested Russian goalkeeper Andriy Lunin, who made his first official appearance for Real Madrid since May last year, with a difficult-angle shot that was pushed into a corner by Lunin (38th minute).

Mbappé was in the right place to open the scoring, albeit unintentionally, when Pedri tried to clear a cross from Ivorian forward Yam Diable, but the ball struck the French striker and found its way into the net (41st minute).

Lamine Yamal missed a chance to equalize from close range (45th minute), and Rodri then tried to compensate with a shot from the edge of the box, which Lunin saved (45+1st minute).

In the second half, Barcelona rallied and attacked the visitors’ goal more, and their efforts paid off when Raphinha scored from inside the box following a pass from Pedri (61st minute).

Güler responded with a powerful shot that García deflected (63rd minute), and Gerard Martín then tried from the opposite side with a shot that Lunin brilliantly saved (66th minute).

Just when it seemed Barcelona was closest to scoring a second, Mbappé netted his second, taking advantage of the efforts of substitute compatriot Eduardo Camavinga, who burst into the penalty area and provided a decisive pass, leaving him in front of an empty net after García had come out (87th minute).

Athletic Bilbao thrashed visitors Getafe 4-0 at the San Mamés stadium, extending their unbeaten home record since their opening-day defeat.

The Basque side regained their footing after a draw and a loss, thanks to goals from Alex Berenguer (17th minute), Ghanaian striker Iñaki Williams (35th), Aitor Paredes (70th), and Yuri Berchiche (88th), while Getafe’s Mario Martín was sent off (86th minute).

The victory lifted Bilbao to 12 points, marking their third league win of the season, while Getafe remained stuck on 9 points.

Since their opening defeat to Sevilla (1-3), Bilbao have gone four consecutive home matches without losing.

The result condemned Getafe to a sixth consecutive away defeat in La Liga for the first time since April 2016.

Getafe have won just one of their last 11 matches across all competitions and are now just one point away from eighteenth-placed Espanyol.

Real Sociedad defeated visitors Levante 2-1, while Celta Vigo drew goalless with Real Betis.