Mbappé scores and misses penalties
©IMAGO
Real Madrid has temporarily eluded defending champions FC Barcelona in the Spanish championship. The team of former Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso won the Clásico against their arch-rivals at home 2-1 (2-1). After ten match days, the record champions are now five points ahead of the team of former national coach Hansi Flick, who was not allowed to stand on the sidelines due to a suspension and suffered their first defeat against the Royals.
Kylian Mbappé (22nd minute) and Jude Bellingham (43rd) scored for the home team in the first half, Fermín López (38th) equalized in the meantime. Barcelona’s Pedri was shown a yellow-red card just before the end, after which some players clashed in front of the reserve benches. Several professionals also briefly wrestled with each other on the field after the final whistle.
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 Junior, 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 misses from the spot for Real, Vinicius Junior in a rage
Mbappé could have increased the score to 3-1 with a hand penalty in the 52nd minute, but goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny 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.
His substitution in the 72nd minute against Rodrygo left Vinicius Junior fuming on the sidelines. The Brazilian attacker didn’t look at his coach and marched into the interior, cursing. At the press conference after the game, Alonso downplayed the scene a little and put the result in the foreground: “I take a lot of positive things from the game and also a lot of good things from Viní. We will of course talk about it afterwards. We will talk about these things, but we don’t want to lose sight of what’s important. Viní contributed a lot today. It’s an important and deserved victory, even if it was close. We had chances Penalty… We have regained the feeling of being a competitive team in big games,” the coach said, according to Real Total.