Sid Lowe was at the Bernabeu this evening, and his report has landed. Here it is! Thanks for reading this MBM, the last word of which goes to Peter Oh: “Real Madrid fans were subjected to a gory horror Flick today. Halloween came early to the Bernabeu.”
A reminder also that Real Madrid’s unbeaten La Liga run has come to an ignominious end. They made it 42 matches unbeaten, but that’s one shy of Barcelona’s record of 43, set between 2017 and 2018. Hey, nothing lasts forever, and if you’re going to come up painfully short, you may as well do so in style.
A dream clásico for Barcelona! They extend their lead over Real Madrid at the top of the table to six points, and make huge goal-difference gains as well. This isn’t their biggest win at the Bearnabeu – they won 5-0 in 1974 – but it’s big enough, though given the chances spurned by Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha, it could easily have been more. Much more. Having said that, Kylian Mbappé had plenty of good opportunities as well, but a combination of the Barca offside trap and a none-shall-pass performance from Iñaki Peña kept Real’s star man out. On this evidence, Barca look a shoo-in for La Liga already, even though we’re just 11 games in. They might take some beating in the Champions League as well. What a performance!
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Barcelona | 11 | 27 | 30 |
| 2 | Real Madrid | 11 | 10 | 24 |
| 3 | Villarreal | 11 | 1 | 21 |
| 4 | Atletico Madrid | 10 | 10 | 20 |
| 5 | Athletic Bilbao | 10 | 6 | 17 |
FULL TIME: Real Madrid 0-4 Barcelona
It’s a rout. It could have been more.
90 min +1: Incidentally, Gavi was booked a couple of minutes ago for wrestling with Vinicius, who was risking a second yellow himself. A red card really would put the tin lid on it for Real.
90 min: Mbappe shoots. Pena parries. The offside flag pops up. This is getting old. Thankfully for Real, there are only two extra minutes to play.
89 min: Carlo Ancelotti wasn’t happy with the Barcelona celebrations, and went over to Hansi Flick, wagging his finger in the headmaster/policeman style. Flick was at pains to calm his opposite number down, palms front-facing.
88 min: Lewandowski delivers a low cross from the left for Raphinha, who can’t get a shot away from six yards. Modric nips in to stop a certain fifth. From the resulting corner, Olmo blazes over the bar.
87 min: It all calms down, allowing both teams to make a change. Garcia comes on for Mendy, then Gavi replaces Pedri.
86 min: A brouhaha in the dugouts as the Barca squad celebrate this rout, the hosts not taking things well. At all.
GOAL! Real Madrid 0-4 Barcelona (Raphinha 84)
This is too easy for Barca now. Martinez launches a long ball down the middle. Vazquez is ahead of Raphinha, but the winger sprints past the dozing defender, and having got in ahead, gently wedges over the out-rushing keeper and into the net. Lovely finish, comically poor defending.
83 min: Valverde creams a low drive towards the bottom-left corner, but Pena has refused to be beaten in one-on-ones with Mbappe, and he’s not going to be beaten by that.
82 min: Vinicius slaloms past Kounde and Cubarsi, entering the box from the left only to be relieved of possession by Martinez’s last-ditch lunge. Great football all round. Then Pena is needlessly booked for unnecessary flapping of neck.
80 min: Vinicius is booked for a frustrated and petulant clip on the heel of Pedri. He’s not happy with the referee, but can have little complaint.
79 min: That’s Yamal’s first clásico goal. It won’t be his last.
GOAL! Real Madrid 0-3 Barcelona (Yamal 77)
This is an outrageous finish. Raphinha drives hard, left to right. He slips the ball to Yamal, who steps into the box down the inside-right channel. He looks to have taken himself a little too far wide right, but that’s not a problem, as he lashes a vicious rising shot into the top-right corner. Lunin with no chance, such was the velocity of that strike! What a goal.
76 min: Militao wins the ball off Olmo in the midfield and attempts to lob Pena from inside his own half. The arcing hoof sails wide left. Then Brahim comes on for Camavinga.
75 min: Martinez high-kicks Militao in the chest, and has the chutzpah to complain about the yellow card he receives.
73 min: Lunin clanks a clearance straight to Balde, 30 yards out, and the Real keeper is extremely fortunate the Barca defender doesn’t launch an immediate attack. Barca get patient and Real get away with one.
71 min: Modric sends Mbappe clear down the middle. The usual story unfolds: Pena saves the shot; the flag pops up for offside anyway. No idea how this match is still 0-2. It could be 0-4 or 2-2 or 4-4 or 4-2 or anything either side or in between.
69 min: Kounde is booked for a late flip on Vinicius, out on the left flank. Modric takes the free kick, and finds Bellingham, free, six yards out. He’s onside, having timed his spurt forward to perfection, but miscontrols and bundles the ball wide left of the target. A huge chance to haul Real back into contention goes begging.
68 min: This one would have counted, though! It’s Yamal out on the left again. He crosses low. Lewandowski leans back and larrups a shot over the bar. What a miss! This game should be done and dusted.
67 min: … but no, that’s all academic, too, because turns out Yamal was just offside in the build-up.
66 min: Lewandowski misses an open goal! Yamal sprints down the left and squares a pass to tee up his pal, eight yards out. Lewandowski opens his body and steers towards the bottom right, but this time gives it too much, and the ball pings off the outside of the post and out. He’ll not get an easier chance to complete his hat-trick tonight! Could that end up costing Barca certain victory?
66 min: Mbappe sashays down the right, enters the box, and lashes an unstoppable shot across Pena and into the bottom left. But he doesn’t bother celebrating, because he knows full well he’s a mile offside. And then, up the other end …
65 min: Olmo comes on for Casado.
64 min: Something nearly happens quickly for Madrid. Mbappe is sent clear down the middle, the offside trap circumvented, but he stabs his shot straight at Pena. Modric tries to return the rebound into the unguarded net, but shanks it wide.
63 min: Real need something to happen quickly, and so here comes Modric. He replaces Tchouameni.
62 min: If this match were to end now, the top of the table would look like this …
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Barcelona | 11 | 25 | 30 |
| 2 | Real Madrid | 11 | 12 | 24 |
| 3 | Villarreal | 11 | 1 | 21 |
| 4 | Atletico Madrid | 10 | 10 | 20 |
| 5 | Athletic Bilbao | 10 | 6 | 17 |
… while Real’s unbeaten La Liga run would end at 42 matches. One shy of Barcelona’s record, set between 2017 and 2018. It’s going pretty well for the Catalans right now.
61 min: Another corner for Real, Vinicius winning it out on the left. It’s worked out to Mbappe, after a fashion. He sends a weak bobbler towards the bottom left. Easy for Pena.
59 min: Valverde swings a free kick into the Barca mixer from the left. Who rises to bash a header clear? Lewandowski.
58 min: Real, along with nearly everyone else in the Bernabeu, can’t believe what’s just happened. A big double-whammy is what’s just happened. The hosts try to bounce back by winning a couple of corners, but the Barca defence deals with them easily enough.
GOAL! Real Madrid 0-2 Barcelona (Lewandowski 56)
It’s two in two minutes for Lewandowski! Balde, tight on the left touchline, swipes a delightful cross into the box. It drops exactly onto Lewandowski’s head, six yards out. Lewandowski gives it the glancing eyebrows, and steers a brilliant header across Lunin and in!
56 min: It was tight, but Mendy was playing the Barca striker on. The Bernabeu stunned. And not half, because now …
55 min: Real Madrid’s offside trap not quite as fit for purpose as Barcelona’s, then.
GOAL! Real Madrid 0-1 Barcelona (Lewandowski 54)
Lewandowski is sent clear down the middle by Casado’s simple defence-splitting pass. He’s got all the time in the world to size up the situation on the edge of the box. He lines himself up and dispatches a low drive into the bottom-right. Lunin no chance!
52 min: Vinicius has been quiet, but now he steams in from the left, his low drive deflected out for a corner. Bellingham tries to meet the set piece, but falls over, claiming he’s been impeded. The referee shows no interest.
51 min: Yamal tries to beat Lunin from the centre circle. Full marks for ambition if nothing else. An easy gather for Lunin.
50 min: Raphinha, quarterbacking from deep, launches long down the middle for Lewandowski, who is denied by Lunin, the keeper racing from his box to clear. The hosts haven’t started this half particularly well.
49 min: Vazquez dinks a cross in from the right. Mbappe, initially in space to the left of the D, takes an uncharacteristically clunky touch and can’t get a shot away, but his presence is enough to force a corner. Nothing comes of the set piece. A fairly scrappy start to the second period.
47 min: Kounde receives the ball this time, out on the right. His cross nearly finds Lewandowski in the middle, but Militao reads the danger and nips in to head clear.
46 min: The first act of the half, and under no pressure whatsoever, Casado sends a simple pass towards Kounde out of play. Onwards and upwards.
Barca get the second half going. They’ve made a change, replacing Lopez with De Jong.
Half-time entertainment. There’s top-of-the-table action going on everywhere.
HALF TIME: Real Madrid 0-0 Barcelona
Some reasonably entertaining attacking by both sides, and an offside-trap masterclass from Barca.
45 min: The corner’s a waste of time. There will be two additional first-half minutes.
44 min: Bellingham slides a pass down the right towards Mbappe, forcing Martinez to whack out for a corner. Vazquez to take.
43 min: Vinicius spins Casado deep inside his own territory, but isn’t able to start a counter as the Barca man brings him down. Casado goes into the book.
41 min: Lamal, calling the shots from deep, very nearly threads a ball down the inside-left channel to release Raphinha clear on goal. Rudiger reads the situation expertly to intercept. Typically, the game being goalless, that move wouldn’t have been offside.
40 min: Some pinball on the edge of the Real box suddenly releases Lewandowski into the area down the right. Lewandowski whistles a fierce rising shot wide and high, then the flag goes up for offside. I hope George Graham is watching this match, he’ll be in hog heaven.
38 min: Bellingham slides in late on Casado and is fortunate not to be shown a yellow card. It looked for a second like the referee was going to produce one, running up to the player in determined fashion, but in the end a finger-wagging lecture sufficed.
36 min: Vinicius is caught offside down the left. That’s the eighth time Real have been flagged off. “I think on 19 minutes you meant: ‘Hansi Flick delivering a PHD level coaching refresher class in playing a high line to Postecoglou’,” writes Ben Barclay, for whom recent events are very much his friend. I admit defeat.
35 min: Lewandowski goes down in the environs of Rudiger. Not sure what happened, but he’s not happy. A sly knee in the coccyx? Ooyah, oof. The striker’s fine after some regenerative rolling about.
33 min: Mbappe isn’t taking that lying down, and powers down the middle this time before his shot is deflected away from danger by Martinez. Nothing comes of the resulting corner.
NO GOAL! Real Madrid 0-0 Barcelona
31 min: Scrap all that. Mbappe an inch off chasing the pass down the right channel. Barca’s offside trap working really well for them.
GOAL! Real Madrid 1-0 Barcelona (Mbappe 30)
Mbappe breaks clear again, down the right, and this time the flag doesn’t go up. He enters the box, draws Pena, and dinks a shot across and over the keeper, and into the bottom left. Easy as that! Mbappe scores in his first clásico appearance!
29 min: A bit of space for Pedri, just to the left of the D. A powerful shot towards the top left. Lunin parries it with a strong arm. The ball breaks to Raphinha, who tries to tee up a team-mate in the centre, only for Militao to extend a leg and divert it out for a corner. From the set piece, Martinez heads a decent chance over from eight yards.
27 min: … so having said that, Bellingham immediately breaks it with a burst down the middle. Barca get away with it, though, the Real midfielder taking an uncharacteristically agricultural touch and running the ball out for a goal kick.
26 min: Another big chance goes begging! Mbappe juggles his way down the inside-left channel before flicking infield for Camavinga, who bursts into the box before finding that ever-rippled side netting. Then up pops the flag. Barca’s renowned offside trap working well for them so far.
24 min: Pedri is down with a sore ankle. Tchouameni caught him late. It was unintentional but clumsy. A very sore one. But good news: the medical man’s spray is magic, and after a quick squirt, Pedri is soon up and about again.
22 min: Vinicius dribbles elegantly in from the left, leaves the flailing Kounde for dust, and drags a shot wide of goal from six yards. Everyone’s left their shooting boots at home.
21 min: Rudiger’s awful clearance gives Yamal the opportunity to drive forward. He lays off to Raphinha, who skies a shot from the edge of the D. Both sides have served up some pretty risible defending so far, and are fortunate the attacking, while very pretty at times, has been profligate.
19 min: Mbappe is sent scampering into acres down the right. He draws Pena before rolling across the face of the box towards Vinicius, who leans back and slices over the bar. An egregious waste, though again the offside flag spares blushes. Absolutely the correct decision this time, with Barca laying a Postecoglou-esque offside trap on the halfway line.
18 min: Barca string a few passes together, probing this way and that. The league leaders are refusing to be cowed by the intimidating Bernabeu atmosphere.
16 min: I mean, you could argue that Bellingham should never have given the keeper the opportunity to make his gymnastic intervention. But you’d require a heart of stone to do so. It was a quite outrageous save … and yeah, again it’s all academic, given the offside flag, but the point stands.
14 min: Camavinga rolls a pass down the left for Mbappe, who rolls across for Bellingham, sliding in at the far post. Bellingham must surely score, and he sticks out a telescopic leg to prod home, but somehow Pena, diving backwards, claws off the line sensationally. That’s one of the great saves, and though the flag then goes up for an offside earlier in the move, take nothing away from it. What a save!
13 min: Barca respond by immediately sending Yamal on a drive down the middle. He scoops a weird shot straight at Lunin, who is grateful for the snaffle. Good fun this, already!
Updated
12 min: A simple long ball down the middle nearly costs Barcelona. Cubarsi doesn’t know whether to attempt a headed clearance upfield or guide the ball back to the keeper. In the end he does neither, dismally cushioning into the path of Mbappe, who attempts to lob Pena from 40 yards. A fine effort only just clears the bar.
11 min: Militao nicks the foot of Raphinha, who needs a while to recover. Thankfully the Barca winger is up and about again quickly enough.
10 min: Yamal wedges a ball down the inside-left channel. It drops over Lewandowski’s shoulder, but the striker can’t connect with his swinging leg and the ball sails out for a goal kick. Half a chance that. The sort the volley-happy Robbie Fowler used to fancy.
8 min: Mendy’s appalling heavy touch allows Yamal the opportunity to snatch possession and attack down the right. Mendy breathes again as the delivery is no good. All a bit scrappy early doors as the nerves settle.
7 min: Camavinga bullies a dithering Kounde in order to seize possession of the ball on the halfway line, but his pass down the flank for Mbappe is no good. Kounde needs to wake up quicksmart.
5 min: Valverde’s second corner is headed behind for take three. Pena punches the final one of the sequence away with confidence. Real on top in these early stages.
4 min: Vinicius dribbles down the left and wins the first corner of the evening. Valverde swings it to the near post, where it’s only half cleared, and Vinicius earns a second take.
2 min: Camavinga spins and passes down the inside-left channel in one smooth movement, releasing Mbappe on goal. Mbappe reaches the box, opens his body, and slams a sidefoot into the near side netting. He should have scored. His blushes are spared as the flag pops up for offside, though an initial replay suggests that might have been closer than it looked to the naked eye. The striker and Kounde looked suspiciously level. VAR would have had to get the rulers out … though it’s all academic now, of course.
1 min: Real are immediately on the front foot, Valverde making a nuisance of himself down the right. Mbappe then reaches a ball on the byline and hooks it into the centre, but it’s easy for Pena, and the flag goes up for offside anyway.
Real get the ball rolling. The Bernabeu is bouncing. “I must say I haven’t been this excited for an El Clásico in a while,” writes Philip Amadi-Emina. “Bring it on! On another note I still think Real Madrid don’t and never needed Mbappe. The signing still feels like rims on a Lamborghini.”
Anyway, the players are out … and the home fans are giving it plenty. We’ll be off in a minute.
Real Madrid are on a good run against Barcelona. The Catalans last won el clásico in the league in March 2023, 2-1 at Camp Nou, a match played a couple of weeks after a 1-0 win in the semi-final of the Copa del Rey at the Bernabeu. But then Real won the second leg of that cup semi 4-0 in Barcelona, and since then it’s been the Jude Bellingham show, the young English star notching injury-time winners in Catalonia later that October, and back in Madrid this April. Fold in the January final of the Supercopa and Real are looking to make it five competitive wins in a row.
“These two might, just might, actually be the best teams in Europe again; this could be a battle the way it used to be, closer and more competitive than anyone anticipated … a clash of styles and identities … a clash of titans.” Allow the good doctor to set the scene.
The reigning champions Real Madrid are without Rodrygo and Thibaut Courtois, both of whom are injured. They’re two of three changes to their starting XI after the 5-2 comeback win over Borussia Dortmund, with club captain Luka Modrić dropping to the bench; Aurélien Tchouaméni and Eduardo Camavinga step into the midfield, while Andriy Lunin is in goal.
Barcelona by contrast are unchanged in the wake of their 4-1 rout of Bayern Munich. Gavi, on his way back from long-term injury, is on the bench and will hope to add to the 12 minutes he’s managed as a sub against Sevilla and Bayern since his return last weekend.
The teams
Real Madrid: Lunin, Vazquez, Militao, Rudiger, Mendy, Bellingham, Valverde, Tchouameni, Camavinga, Mbappe, Vinicius Jr.
Subs: Gonzalez, Mestre, Modric, Guler, Endrick, Vallejo, Ceballos, Garcia, Brahim.
Barcelona: Pena, Kounde, Cubarsi, Martinez, Balde, Casado, Pedri, Yamal, Lopez, Lewandowski, Raphinha.
Subs: Dominguez, Fati, Fort, Kochen, Martin, Olmo, Gavi, Szczesny, Torre, Victor, de Jong.
Referee: José María Sánchez Martínez.
📋✅ ¡Nuestro XI inicial para #ElClásico!
— Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadrid) October 26, 2024
🆚 @FCBarcelona_es@UnicajaBanco pic.twitter.com/VWDjMRxdLW
🚨 BARÇA XI 🚨#ElClásico pic.twitter.com/EEwVXcS5x4
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) October 26, 2024
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Preamble
Should Real Madrid avoid defeat in tonight’s clásico, they’ll equal the longest unbeaten run in La Liga history. Who holds the current record, which stands at 43 games? Let’s not insult your intelligence by answering that, other than to say that particular team put together their sequence between 2017 and 2018.
That’s not the only reason Barcelona will want to beat Carlo Ancelotti’s side tonight. A win for Hansi Flick’s men would give them a serious advantage over the reigning champions in the race for the title, with just 11 games gone. So it really is all to play for, in more ways than one. Kick-off in Madrid is at 8pm BST, 9pm local. ¡Esta sucediendo!
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Barcelona | 10 | 23 | 27 |
| 2 | Real Madrid | 10 | 14 | 24 |
| 3 | Atletico Madrid | 10 | 10 | 20 |
| 4 | Villarreal | 10 | 0 | 18 |
| 5 | Athletic Bilbao | 10 | 6 | 17 |
