Kylian Mbappé scored twice, the second with time running out, as Real Madrid beat Barcelona 2-1 at the Camp Nou on Sunday night. The result leaves Madrid three points behind Barcelona and turned a night that might have ended the title race before November into the moment it reopened. José Mourinho, back in Barcelona for a clásico 13 years later, marked the late winner with a knee slide on the touchline, muddying the trousers of a 63-year-old and pumping his fists as the bench emptied behind him. It has taken 10 weeks, but it is game on.
Madrid had to do it without Thibaut Courtois, who woke with flu on the morning of the game and watched from home in Boadilla. Mourinho said: ‘We have the best goalkeeper in the world, but none of us cried because Thibaut couldn’t play.’ Instead he called Andriy Lunin and told the substitute goalkeeper this was his moment: ‘You train to play, not to sit on the bench, so go on.’ Lunin repaid him with an astonishing save from Gerard Martín, and Madrid survived a Lamine Yamal second-half shot that faded just past the post.
Context made it a shock. Barcelona had won nine in a row and were scoring 4.3 goals per game; Madrid had lost twice already and had been far from convincing. Mourinho framed the stakes before kick-off: ‘If you leave here nine points behind, it’s very heavy psychologically; if it’s six, it’s more balanced; if it’s three, that’s different.’ The win made it three, and Mourinho’s record against Barcelona stretched to six consecutive meetings without defeat when his earlier clásicos are counted.
Madrid did not simply park a bus. Barcelona had 62% possession and 18 shots to Madrid’s 10, but Madrid defended with bodies and attacked with intent. Dean Huijsen saved a shot with his face; six Barcelona attempts were blocked. Mourinho said: ‘The way we won is important: you can win luckily or by defending a lot. But we won with calmness and totally deservedly. We did it by being organised, concentrated and having the courage to come out from the back.’ João Cancelo offered a different summary: ‘That’s Madrid; they don’t have many chances but they score them.’
Barcelona were not at their best. Rodri told teammates to lower their ‘pulse rate’ as they came out for the second half, and Lamine Yamal missed an extraordinary chance just before the break. Xavi Espart was forced off, another injury at the back, and Barcelona’s failure to sign a centre-back came under scrutiny again. When they tightened the screw after half-time, they could not break through. Madrid, by contrast, had a midfield and an idea. Arda Guler and Silva were included, with Silva starting in the middle for his first league game in six weeks; Yan Diomandé, 19, playing his first clásico on the left wing, had more touches than any Madrid player and protected his full-back. Marc Cucurella got under Lamine Yamal’s skin. The winning goal came from a flash of inspiration, Jude Bellingham pirouetting to release Eduardo Camavinga.
The shift had started in Rome, where 70 dreadful minutes gave way to 20 good ones. Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni are no longer the midfield partnership; Valverde has gone to right-back. Guler and Diomandé are playing. Vinícius Júnior is not. ‘I’m not stubborn; I can change,’ Mourinho said. Madrid have now won five in a row and every game since Vinícius was suspended. Before the clásico, Mourinho said it was unfair to compare his team, a side in construction, with Barcelona, and insisted he was still getting to know his players. Afterwards he admitted: ‘We have improved, we can’t hide that.’ He added that he had learned a mixture in midfield is better than two players of similar characteristics — in short, Tchouaméni and Valverde does not work.
Federico Valverde said the win ‘will give us a kickstart’. Mourinho was more cautious: ‘I won’t let them have their heads on the moon; if we win this and then don’t win at the Sardinero, it won’t mean much.’ Spanish newspaper headlines reflected the shift — ‘The best Madrid is born at the Camp Nou’ in El País and ‘Madrid are here now’ in AS. At full-time Mourinho shook Lunin’s hand. Courtois, watching from home, had had ‘a horrible night’ on Saturday but was feeling a little better. So were his teammates.