Real Madrid extended their lead in La Liga with a well-deserved victory in the Clásico. Barcelona enjoyed a lot of possession of the ball without moving towards the goal.
Kylian Mbappé gave Los Blancos the lead in the 22nd minute before Fermin López equalized out of nowhere (38′). Jude Bellingham scored the final goal in the 43rd minute, and there was a huge pack formation in stoppage time – Pedri had previously seen a yellow-red card after a nasty foul against Aurélien Tchouameni.
After a good half hour, Hansi Flick’s team could be extremely happy and grateful, even though they were 1-0 behind. The course of the game up to that point would have resulted in a 0:5, at times it was a performance by the Royal Barca owed its stay in the game to the VAR, its goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny and the lack of precision of the Real stars, who negligently missed several big chances.
Duel between Lamine Yamal and Vinicius Junior
The first big excitement occurred in the second minute. Vinicius Junior tried to shoot in the Barca penalty area, but Lamine Yamal put his foot between his shooting leg and the ball. Referee César Soto Grado immediately pointed to the penalty spot, but the VAR intervened for the first time. Soto Grado then saw on the screen that Yamal was not to be blamed because he went to the ball before Vini Junior and was more likely to be kicked by the Brazilian. The penalty was then conceded again in accordance with the rules.
Ten minutes later, Soto Grado and his team were challenged again – and again he needed the help of the video assistant. This time the referee had pointed to the middle after a wonderful 23-meter shot from Mbappé, but after a fairly long review it became apparent that the Frenchman had previously been just offside when Arda Güler passed the ball.
Kylian Mbappe would probably have had two goals to his name after twelve minutes without the VAR.
Pedri and de Jong slow down
Barcelona should have been warned by now at the latest, but the visitors didn’t change their style of play: There were always long series of passes, but without any pace and therefore without any targeted finishing actions. Pedri and Frenkie de Jong in particular slowed the game down in the control center so that the Real defense could form easily. The 70 to 75 percent possession of the ball at times actually turned out to be counterproductive, as Barca’s defensive switching didn’t work at all.
The Real lead was well deserved thanks to Mbappé, who ice-coldly used a through ball from Bellingham. Mbappé again, then defensive gem Dean Huijsen and Bellingham could have added more goals before it almost became grotesque: Barcelona equalized after a fatal loss of the ball by Güler. Marcus Rashford had perfectly staged Fermin López, and Flick, who was banned from yellow and red, cheered frenetically in the box.
Mbappe’s third celebration stands. After 22 minutes it is 1-0.
Bellingham scores, Mbappé is denied by Szczęsny
But his joy didn’t last long. Five minutes after the flattering equalizer, Real were back in front. Eder Militao headed a cross from Vini Junior that was actually too long over the Barca defense, in which two Barca defenders, de Jong and Pau Cubarsi, oriented themselves towards Huijsen – so that Bellingham was completely free at the second post and only had to push in.
Flick representative Marcus Sorg didn’t seem to have found the decisive lever at the break, because the second round also started as usual. Vini Junior failed again against the strong Szczęsny before the VAR came back on the agenda: After countless repetitions on the screen, Soto Grado finally recognized that Barca defender Eric Garcia had deflected the Englishman’s lobbed ball with his hand during a tackle in the penalty area against Bellingham. But Mbappé missed his second goal because Szczęsny, who was brought back from football retirement a year ago, made an outstanding save on the penalty (52nd).
Vini show after his substitution
Bellingham was also close to scoring his second goal a quarter of an hour later, but his supposed 3-1 after a top combination from Federico Valverde and Braham Díaz was once again blocked by a narrow offside position. The next upset came from Vinicius Junior, who was replaced by Xabi Alonso in the 72nd minute. As usual, the Brazilian didn’t like that at all, especially not at what he considered a completely premature time: he looked at the scoreboard in complete shock, cursed loudly to himself the entire way from the field, spread both arms out in a theatrical perplexity, refused to shake his coach’s hand and stalked straight to the dressing room.
From a sporting point of view, his substitution was not particularly noticeable: Real had clear chances to counter Barcelona’s largely pointless possession football in this duel. Mbappé was blocked twice in dire need, Aurélien Tchouaméni also missed the preliminary decision, while Barcelona hardly posed a goal threat until the end without the injured Robert Lewandowski, Dani Olmo, Gavi and Raphinha. Shortly before the final whistle, Jules Koundé broke free, but the ball missed him, so that Thibaut Courtois was able to grab hold and secure the deserved victory. At the final whistle, Vini Junior was there again and was involved in the pack formation with great effort. On the other hand, Lamine Yamal also got involved diligently, making him much more noticeable than before throughout the game.