Mbappé's fury punishes Barça's survival effort

Special envoy to MadridHansi Flick's Barça, who so enthralled last season and who achieved comeback after comeback, left the Bernabéu licking their wounds (2-1). Hampered by injuries up front, missing Iñigo Martínez at the heart of the defense for another game, and overwhelmed by the fury of Mbappé, whom Szczesny denied was scoring a goal, the Blaugranas fell in the Clásico, and the Whites are further ahead in La Liga. An exercise in survival at a Bernabéu that has made Lamine Yamal their number one enemy hasn't been enough. Pedri's face, tired, disappointed, tortured, and sent off, is that of an entire Barça fan base that believed until the very end, but this time without the epic spirit that had so often spoiled us with this team full of promise.

In the battle that posed the classic, Mbappé, Vinícius and Bellingham have shown better versions against a Barça that is silly in defense, weak in midfield disputes and frustrated up front. Only Rashford has had physical continuity this start of the season in an attack that is missing Raphinha, also without Lewandowski, and where Lamine Yamal and Ferran were not at their best. At a Bernabéu thirsty for revenge after the 4-0 with which the Catalans mistreated them last season, the Whites, who are not exactly a team to shoot rockets, have bitten more and knew how to punish their opponent's mistakes.

If you give Bellingham easy passes, he'll pick out Mbappé's runs and tear apart the fragile defensive line. Add in a Kounde who looks like a tasteless copy of the player he was last season and a De Jong who sometimes seems to have horchata running through his veins, and it's only natural that Pedri would despair and end up grabbing a demonic and overgrown Vinícius by the shirt and earning himself a yellow card in the first half, which resulted in a foul. It was a close call that Mbappé didn't celebrate early on when he fired home a shot from the edge of the box. A stunning goal, disallowed after a VAR review, which had already invited Soto Grado to overturn a non-existent penalty by Lamine Yamal on Vinícius.

The Whites had started lively at a Bernabéu that was determined to whistle Lamine Yamal for every ball he touched, but technology saved Barça while the home fans sang, ridiculously, "Negreira, Negreira." If there is any club on the planet that can't complain about the officiating, it's Florentino Pérez's Real Madrid. It seemed that after the initial attacks, the Blaugranas had found the composure and patience necessary in their game to overcome the high pressure that Xabi Alonso had instilled in his team. For a few moments, even some long possession by the Catalans managed to silence the Whites' stadium, which had welcomed the Blaugranas with a mosaic with the word "Greatness". They don't need grandparents.

When Barça have been able to run the ball and get into the opponent's half, it has seemed that Madrid would be vulnerable in their own area because, as a unit, they are lacking. Individual talent, on the other hand, they are served by the checkbook. And if you neglect talent, you can pay dearly. Alone, too easily, Bellingham has found the space to filter in a precise pass behind Cubarsí and Kounde that Mbappé, enraged, has not forgiven. Fermín finishing off an assist from Rashford.

The joy quickly expired. Another lapse from the Blaugrana, who were very weak, allowed Madrid to break the deadlock once again. Vinícius did what he wanted against Kounde and delivered a cross to the far post, which the Whites converted thanks to Cubarsí's passivity against Militao and De Jong, who lost sight of Bellingham and let him finish alone. The best thing that could have happened to Barça was for the break to arrive without the scoreboard changing further. And if it didn't move further at the start of the second half, it was thanks to Sant Szczesny, a goalkeeper capable of comically clearing a divided ball when he has all the time in the world, just as he could save a penalty from the best striker of the moment. A completely unintentional handball—but one of those that VAR sanctions, especially if playing against Real Madrid—by Eric has made the Pole the guarantor of Catalan resilience at the Bernabéu.

Fatigue also took hold of the Whites, who began to pinch less, and shamelessly gave the ball to Barça, relying on the decisiveness of Militao, who made life miserable for Ferran. The Blaugranas could have fully recovered their vital signs with a scratch from Fermín, but the Andalusian finished when the best option involved setting up a teammate. Flick's team tried against a more cautious Madrid, but they didn't suffer excessively against a lackluster opponent. The Blaugranas missed the electricity of an off-kilter Lamine Yamal, who looked more to link up than to confront Carreras, who is still his kryptonite. Xabi Alonso showed off a bench that Barça doesn't have, and he substituted a Vinícius who left the field furious as a bee when he saw that the Clásico was coming to an end.

Flick also needed to give his team a refresher, but between injuries and the club's financial hardships, the Blaugranas finished the battle with an experimental eleven, with Lamine Yamal playing inside and Casadó and De Jong acting as emergency center backs when Araujo ended up as a No. 9. The clearest one was from Lamine Yamal, but the Frenchman controlled, with his chest, the shot went too long against Curtois. Barça, with more heart than ideas, ended up looking for an epic that never came.