It was the expected match of this first part of the European football season. Title holders, Kylian Mbappé’s Real Madrid challenged FC Barcelona this Saturday evening for the first Clasico of the season. A Clasico which has never been so anticipated in recent years as both teams seemed attractive. Under the orders of Hansi Flick, the Catalan club is starting to show a pleasant face, as evidenced by this very large victory against Bayern Munich (4-1). Above all, the German coach can rely on a fiery offensive trio with Lamine Yamal, Robert Lewandowski and especially Raphinha who walks on water. For the rest, we obviously found Jules Koundé on the right, but also a 100% Spanish midfielder with Pedri, Fermin Lopez and Marc Casado. On the Real Madrid side, in the absence of Rodrygo, Carlo Ancelotti decided to return to last season’s tactics with this diamond midfielder (Tchouameni, Valverde, Camavinga) and Bellingham in 10 while Vinicius Jr and Mbappé occupied the attack. The Frenchman was quick to shine in this match as he missed a first face-to-face in the first minute of play. He was immediately flagged offside. A situation that will follow him for almost the entire meeting. With a high defense, Barça constantly trapped the former Parisian who was in an offside position… 6 times in 45 minutes (8 in total for Real in the first period) and in particular on his goal with a nice dive that he had not failed to celebrate. Too much. His teammate Vinicius Jr stood out for his imprecision in front of the cage (22nd). For its part, FC Barcelona also did poorly on the counterattack and created a few opportunities without making Lunin tremble.
But the match changed after returning from the locker room. After having had the chances, Real Madrid missed their chance. Opposite, Robert Lewandowski did not miss the opportunity to hurt the opponent. The Polish striker, on cloud nine since the start of the season, first opened the scoring with a precise flat foot (1-0, 54th). Then, he played Rudiger and Militao to place his head and deceive a Lunin who was still too short (2-0, 56th). A double in two minutes which completely stunned the Merengues. The former Bayern scorer could even have scored a hat-trick if he had not missed the inevitable by shooting at the post despite an empty goal (67th). In the meantime, Kylian Mbappé had scored another goal in an offside position and missed two chances. His shots were stopped by a vigilant Inaki Pena. Head down, the Frenchman seemed to be sinking slowly and his team with it. Unable to find the fault against a Barcelona defense which played all evening with the offside trap, Real Madrid completely collapsed this evening. And faced with the talent of Barça, that is unforgiving. It was first Lamine Yamal who lit Lunin’s cage (3-0, 77th) then it was Raphinha, still on fire this Saturday evening, who slipped in a subtle little lob for his team’s fourth goal (4 -0.82nd). The difference was too big between the two teams this evening, particularly in efficiency and also tactically as Carlo Ancelotti seemed without a solution. At home, Real Madrid are slapped by FC Barcelona who now take a 6-point lead and take the lead. Kylian Mbappé missed his first Clasico and he will remember it for a very long time.
