Real Madrid beat Barcelona 2-1 at Camp Nou on Sunday 25 October in La Liga, with Kylian Mbappé scoring twice and Raphinha equalising for the hosts just after the hour. It was Barcelona’s first domestic defeat of the season and their second straight loss, after the 4-2 defeat at Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League last week. Madrid cut the gap to the leaders to three points and are third, behind Atlético Madrid and Barcelona. The question is whether the result puts Madrid back in a title race or only narrows a gap that remains.
The case for a Madrid revival is in the momentum. According to Al Jazeera, it was Madrid’s fifth straight win in all competitions, and Mbappé’s first goal, before half-time, was his 10th in La Liga this season, with the second coming late in the game. Barcelona had won their first nine games before this one, and they had won six of the seven previous Clásicos since Hansi Flick arrived, so beating them at Camp Nou reverses a pattern. The win came days after Madrid beat Leipzig 4-1, with goals from Bernardo Silva, Arda Güler, Mbappé and Yan Diomande. Madrid also started their Champions League campaign with three wins from three, including a 4-1 victory over Leipzig on 21 October in which Mbappé scored in the 83rd minute, according to UEFA’s match report. A team that is winning away from home against the best opposition in the country has reason to believe the leaders are within reach.
The case for caution is that the table has not changed its order. Madrid remain third and still have to overtake two teams, not one, with Atlético Madrid, who drew 1-1 with Stuttgart in the Champions League on Tuesday, also above them, while Barcelona’s defeat is the first of their domestic season, not the start of a pattern. Raphinha’s equaliser keeps him as La Liga’s top scorer with 13 goals, and Barcelona went into the match having won every one of their first nine league games. Pedri, speaking to DAZN, said, “In general, we didn’t have a great game. In the first half, we weren’t ourselves,” but added, “We wanted to win the Clasico in front of our fans, but the season is very long… a league is not won here.” A three-point gap is a margin that one bad weekend can undo in either direction.
For La Liga, the result keeps the race open at a point when one side had won all nine of its opening games. Two successive defeats within five days, in Paris and then at home to their biggest rival, are a warning for Flick’s team, and Barcelona will have to show quickly that the Clásico was an exception. For Madrid, the win is a marker: it shows they can beat a leading side in a hostile stadium, which will matter if the title race stays tight into the second half of the season.
Madrid have closed to within three points and found some belief. Barcelona still sit above them and have time to respond.
