Barcelona have made it a fourth successive El Clasico victory over Real Madrid with a 4-3 victory at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys in Montjuic.
Barcelona came into the match as favourites, but it was Real Madrid that made the better start. Errors from Pau Cubarsi and Wojciech Szczesny lead to the latter fouling Kylian Mbappe inside the penalty area, and the Real Madrid man stepped up to score the opening goal of the match from 12 yards. The Barcelona goalkeeper dived the right way, but the ball was just out of his reach.
And soon after, Mbappe added his second. After picking up the ball in midfield, Vinicius Junior played his Real Madrid teammate in behind, and with only Szczesny to beat, he made no mistake.
It was the worst possible start for Barcelona, but they did manage to get a goal back soon after. Ferran Torres played on a corner, and it landed perfectly on the head of Eric Garcia, who made no mistake to reduce the arrears to 2-1. And on 32 minutes, Lamine Yamal curled home to make it 2-2, with Hansi Flick’s side responding brilliant to going two goals down.
And it would get even better for Barcelona two minutes after as Raphinha completed the comeback to make it 3-2 following an error from Dani Ceballos, whose collision with Mbappe allowed Pedri to claim the ball.
The first half goals were not done there as Raphinha added his second of the afternoon just before half time after being played in by Ferran, who made it three assists in 26 minutes. The goal again came from another error – this time, it was Lucas Vazquez that made the mistake.
Barcelona looked to consolidate their lead in the second half, but it was Real Madrid that scored the seventh goal of the game. And it was Mbappe that got it, as he was played in by Vinicius again to complete an excellent hat-trick.
Real Madrid substitute Victor Munoz missed a huge chance to make it 4-4 late on, just before Fermin Lopez fired home a fifth for Barcelona that was eventually ruled out for handball in the build-up. In the end, the back of the net was found no more, and it meant that the Catalans were victorious.
Barcelona now find themselves seven points clear of Real Madrid with only three matches to be played. As such, they can win the La Liga title next week when they take on Espanyol in Derbi Barceloni.
