Barcelona made a remarkable comeback to overcome Real Madrid 4-3 on Sunday and move to the brink of the La Liga title.
Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappe scored a hat trick, but Raphinha’s double, together with goals from Lamine Yamal and Eric Garcia, gave Barcelona a seven-point lead over the reigning champions with three games remaining.
Hansi Flick’s side were knocked out of the Champions League semi-finals by Inter Milan on Tuesday and faced the possibility of their season collapsing if they lost to Real Madrid, but they resisted after Mbappe’s early brace.
Barcelona rallied back to win their fourth Clasico in four meetings this season, demonstrating their supremacy over Carlo Ancelotti’s side.
“We’ve opened up an important gap; it was key to win this game after the Champions League (defeat). The fans have forgotten it, and so have we. Let’s enjoy this,” Yamal told Movistar.
“It was important to win today to bring the league title closer and it went very well, we’re very happy.”
Real Madrid had made the perfect start to what is expected to be the Italian coach’s farewell Clasico at the helm.
Mbappe earned a penalty after he was scythed down by Barcelona custodian Wojciech Szczesny, despite the Catalans’ insistence that the French attacker was offside in the buildup.
The striker beat Szczesny, who dove the correct way and got his fingers on it but was unable to keep it out.
Mbappe increased Madrid’s lead in the 14th minute with a lethal finish after Vinicius Junior set him up, with Barcelona appealing over another supposed foul on Yamal earlier in the move.
It was his 26th La Liga goal, moving him over Barcelona’s Robert Lewandowski on 25 to lead the scoring statistics, and his 38th of the season across all competitions, breaking Ivan Zamorano’s club record of 37 in his first season with Los Blancos.
Flick’s feisty young Barcelona fought their way back into the lead with a remarkable comeback, like they have done on numerous occasions this season.
Thibaut Courtois pushed Gerard Martin’s drive over, and from the corner, Garcia headed in Ferran Torres’ flick-on.
Torres shot wide from close range with an improvised effort, and Fede Valverde was booked for a hard tackle on whirling adolescent Yamal.
Madrid could not stop the 17-year-old prodigy from levelling with a sophisticated bending effort beyond Courtois after Torres laid the ball off to him in the box.
Two minutes later, Raphinha put Barcelona ahead as Pedri threaded a pass through for the Brazilian winger to score.
Raphinha headed over from a beautiful Yamal cross with the outside of his boot, a characteristic of the Spain international.
Mbappe felt he had won another penalty as he came under pressure from Frenkie de Jong, but VAR revealed an offside in the build-up.
Raphinha scored his second just moments later, picking Lucas Vazquez’s pocket on the edge of the area, swapping passes with Torres, and beating Courtois.
Mbappé scored from an offside position just before halftime, capping off a thrilling first half.
In the second half, Yamal’s goal was ruled out for offside as Barcelona aimed to defeat their rivals.
Flick brought on Alejandro Balde and Andreas Christensen, who cut out a dangerous ball as Vinicius looked for Mbappe.
Mbappé scored his hat-trick as he and Vinicius broke in behind Barca’s high line.
Barcelona appealed for a penalty when Aurélien Tchouaméni blocked Torres’ shot with his arm; however, after watching the incident again, the referee decided not to award a penalty.
Real Madrid substitute Victor Munoz could have levelled late on, but he blasted high and wide when fed through, and Szczesny stopped Mbappe, who had another strike called out for offside.
Barcelona believed they had sealed the win with a magnificent solo effort from Fermin Lopez, but it was severely disallowed for handball against the midfielder.
Madrid has no time to battle back, and Barcelona, who last won the championship in 2023, might clinch the title as early as Wednesday if Los Blancos lose to Mallorca.
