Barcelona 1 Real Madrid 2
First came the horrified silence, then a cascade of miniature missiles. Kylian Mbappé was perfectly within his rights to cherish his strike to win El Clásico, but made the mistake of milking the moment right in front of the Barcelona ultras, resulting in a hail of debris from the stands.
Mercifully it was mostly only plastic cups, rather than the pig’s head thrown at Luís Figo at this ground, but it was a reminder of this contest’s ability to aggravate tensions like no other. Mbappé had to shield his face at one stage, but once the magnitude of this goal sank in he could not stop himself from smiling.
At an individual level, the timing was exquisite. He has been waging a ferocious campaign in search of his maiden Ballon d’Or, and this was quite the final audition. Seeking to thwart Harry Kane at Monday night’s ceremony in London, Real Madrid’s No 10 produced a flourish to remind the judges of his lightning reflexes, scoring his 13th and 14th goal in just 11 matches against Barcelona and highlighting his talent for peaking on the biggest stage.
But it also preserved José Mourinho’s enviable record in El Clásico. And though the manager might be deep into his seventh decade, he could not resist a knee slide to agitate the locals even further.
With his tongue out, and his right arm pumping like a piston, he was back in vintage provocateur mode. Granted, the slide was more of a semi-arthritic crumple, but you could not begrudge his delight. Even though this was his first appearance in this fixture since 2013, he has sustained his antagonism of the Catalans.
He is on a run of four victories and two draws against Barcelona, emulating the six-game unbeaten streaks also enjoyed by Miguel Muñoz and Vicente del Bosque. It was a wonder he did not sprint across the pitch in jubilation, as he memorably did while in charge of Inter Milan. Yes, he has faded a touch from his pomp, but this wiliest of veterans revels in his status as Barcelona’s eternal nemesis.
Curiously, with the equable Hansi Flick as his opposite number these days and not the combustible Pep Guardiola, he dialled down the triumphalism a touch afterwards. “In my opinion, Real Madrid do not play to win at Camp Nou, we play to win La Liga,” he said, having trimmed Barcelona’s lead at the summit of La Liga to three points. “This must be the mentality. We need to continue like this and not go over the moon after this win.”
With Mourinho returning to this duel after a 13-year hiatus, a crackle of electricity was guaranteed. As usual, you could just not be sure how it would manifest itself. Projecting particular menace through his combination of black jacket and snowy-white beard, he did not take long to berate the officials, flapping histrionically at the decision to penalise Aurélien Tchouaméni for a robust challenge on teenager Xavi Espart.
“Mourinho, go to the theatre,” the Barcelona fans taunted, a chant they introduced after he accused a much younger Lionel Messi of diving in a Champions League game.
He might be more weathered at 63, but there is no disputing Mourinho’s appetite for the most exhilarating club confrontation in the world. A clásico has changed appreciably from his heyday opposite Guardiola: it is now a global entertainment expo, a magnet for influencers, with the cheapest tickets £300. The two starting XIs here had a combined market value of more than £2.3bn, but it was Mbappé, rather than Lamine Yamal, who came to the boil quickest in the battle of the biggest names.
His strike was hardly the peak of craftsmanship, but true to form he was in the right position to capitalise as Gerard Martín flailed in attempting to clear Yan Diomande’s cross and instead smacked it straight against the Frenchman.
Real deserved their lead, having followed to the letter Mourinho’s time-honoured tactic of sitting back before pouncing on the counter-attack.
While Raphinha has been struggling to shake off an injury sustained on Brazil duty last month, it has not blunted his lethal edge. Just when Barcelona were toiling, he carved out the breakthrough, seizing on a beautiful reverse pass by Pedri to angle a powerful finish beyond Andriy Lunin.
It required an inspired save by Lunin, deputising for Thibaut Courtois, to keep out Martín’s header in the flurry that followed.
From there it became a Barcelona bombardment, with Yamal finding his footing and unfortunate to drag a left-footed shot just wide. He duly implored the crowd to increase the noise, while Real’s travelling band – enclosed in a section almost above the cloud line behind high mesh fencing – could barely bring themselves to watch.
But as Mbappé applied the exclamation point, finishing into an empty net after an impressive piece of work by Jude Bellingham in turning Gabriel Jesus inside out, they must have wondered what on earth they were worried about. And how Mourinho grinned, having conjured an answer to confound his doubters once more.