Top game in Spain
Wild Clásico against Barça: Real ends Flick series
Updated 10/26/2025 – 6:46 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
The “Royal” and the Catalans deliver a spectacle at the Bernabéu Stadium. The game remains highly exciting for a long time – for a special reason.
A very important victory in the prestigious duel: Real Madrid won the eagerly awaited first “Clásico” of the season against FC Barcelona 2-1 (2-1) and is now five points ahead of the Catalans in the table.
Kylian Mbappé (22nd) and Jude Bellingham (43rd) scored for coach Xabi Alonso’s team, while Fermín López (38th) equalized for Barcelona. Real were unlucky that another Mbappé goal was canceled due to an offside position (12th) and the Frenchman was denied a controversial hand penalty by Barcelona goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny in the second half of the game (52nd). Barcelona’s Pedri saw a yellow-red card in heated injury time (90th + 10th).
German coach Hansi Flick’s team remained dangerous until the final phase, but they rarely managed to create top-class scoring opportunities. This marks the end of a special series for Flick: The former national coach has won all Clásicos against Real since he took office in 2024.
The guests were looked after by assistant coach Marcus Sorg at the Bernabéu Stadium after Flick was shown a red card in the late win against FC Girona the day before for complaining and was suspended. Last season, the double winner won all four duels with his arch-rivals from Madrid.
The first excitement occurred after just two minutes: the referee initially awarded a penalty for Real after a defensive action by Lamine Yamal against Vinicius Jr., but then, based on video evidence, decided that the Madrid striker was fouled. Barcelona were lucky again when Mbappé scored powerfully into the goal from 22 meters in the twelfth minute, but the beautiful goal did not count due to an offside position.
After an exemplary pass from Bellingham, the French star striker scored again, this time making it 1-0. It was Mbappé’s eleventh goal of the season in the league. Bellingham immediately responded from close distance to Fermín López’s somewhat surprising equalizer, which Flick celebrated in a booth under the stadium roof.
Mbappé could have increased the score to 3-1 with a hand penalty in the 52nd minute, but goalkeeper Szczęsny made a brilliant save. Barcelona then pushed for an equalizer, but without the injured striker Robert Lewandowski, the most important pass point in the penalty area was missing. So Real got the deserved victory without any major problems over time.