Mourinho stopped "Barca"
Mbappe's double brought victory to "Real" at the "Camp Nou". The Madrid side narrowed the gap with the leader through a win in the head-to-head match. The Catalans' defense suffered another loss.
Mourinho stopped «Barça»
A new chapter in El Clásico
«Barcelona» – «Real» 1:2
Mbappé, 41 (0:1). Raphinha, 61 (1:1). Mbappé, 87 (1:2)
«Barcelona»: García, Cubarsí, Martín, Cancelo, Espart (Balde, 30), Pedri, Rodri, Fermín López (de Jong, 74), Yamal, Gordon (Adeyemi, 85), Raphinha (Gabriel Jesus, 86)
«Real»: Lunin, Huijsen, Konaté, Cucurella, Valverde (Dumfries, 62), Tchouaméni, Silva (Camavinga, 80), Arda Güler (Alexander-Arnold, 90+4), Bellingham, Diomande (Espi, 90+4), Mbappé
In recent seasons, El Clásicos showed fans first equal battles between Carlo Ancelotti and Xavi, and later the Italian specialist's inability to find a solution against Hansi Flick (four defeats with an aggregate score of 7:16). Xabi Alonso, who came in his place, defeated «Barcelona» on his very first attempt. However, a defeat (2:3) in the Spanish Super Cup match during that same season cut his journey in Madrid short.
Now it was Mourinho's turn. José is no stranger to El Clásicos, but a 13-year break in between is a long time. In the meantime, football, the players, and the coach himself have changed. But on the eve of the match, statistics were recalled: the Portuguese specialist had not lost to «Barça» in his last five encounters within barça tournaments. Standing before him was the opportunity to record an unbeaten streak of six consecutive matches in El Clásicos — until now, among «Real» managers, only Miguel Muñoz and Vicente del Bosque had achieved such a result.
Flick, on the other hand, was aiming to set a historical record by winning all of the opening matches at the start of the Spanish championship.
There were no surprises in the starting lineups for the match. Everything was as most sources had predicted. Xavi Espart started on the right flank of the home team's defense, Valverde once again turned into a right-back, and Lunin stood in goal. The absence of Courtois, who fell ill with the flu, was the most significant loss for «Real». Opinions were voiced that the absence of the suspended Vinícius Júnior, on the contrary, might work in the team's favor. Because in his current form, the Brazilian player lags far behind his rival Diomande. The Ivorian player justified the trust placed in him early in the match's debut and demonstrated how he could escape pressing with his dribbling. At the same time, Yan was always able to find the right target for a pass.