Kylian Mbappe on Sunday struck twice to earn Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid a 2-1 Clasico victory over La Liga leaders Barcelona at Camp Nou, cutting the gap to three points.
French superstar Mbappe opened the scoring before the interval and then slotted home late on to inflict Barca’s first domestic defeat of the campaign after Raphinha had equalized for the champions.
Real Madrid remain third, behind Atletico Madrid and Hansi Flick’s Barca, who had won their first nine games before a chastening week.
Photo: AFP
The Catalans suffered a second straight defeat after losing on Tuesday last week against Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Champions League.
Mourinho was delighted with his team’s display in his first Clasico back at the helm of Madrid.
“My team had an extraordinary game, very organized, good concentration, with courage to play out from the back against a team that presses you a lot,” Mourinho told reporters.
“We had chances for the second goal ... obviously Barca had a strong reaction, but we were calm and organized and at 1-1 we never lost our tranquility,” he said.
Barca had won six of the seven previous Clasicos since Flick arrived, but were surprisingly subdued against Mourinho’s side.
“You saw today, we lacked freshness,” Flick said of his team’s performance.
“It’s the first defeat in La Liga, we won nine in a row. This is what we have to see,” he said. “Defeats are a part of the game. We have to analyze, we have to make things better. Now it’s important that we make a reaction.”
Los Blancos, without suspended winger Vinicius Junior, won their fifth straight game across all competitions and are finding their footing under veteran Portuguese coach Mourinho.
After two trophyless seasons Madrid turned back to Mourinho to try and stop Barca’s dominance, and this result would give them hope they are on the right track.
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