FC Barcelona have emerged victorious from one of the most incredible Clásico encounters ever, and the outcome of it all is a seven-point lead over Real Madrid that puts the Liga title within touching distance with just three more games to go.

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Four Clásico wins for the history books

 

But what a game it was! Comebacks have been part of blaugrana folklore this season, and here we had yet another. The Catalans found themselves 2-0 down after a quarter of an hour, but the reaction could not have been more perfect. Eric Garcia, Lamine Yamal and Raphinha (twice) had all scored with the second half still to spare.

the game as it happened

Potentially, this could have ended up being yet another rout of the old enemy, and Barça were certainly playing the kind of football to do that. But Kylian Mbappé was able to complete his hat-trick and there were plenty of nerves and incidents before the final whistle finally called time on this monumental game of football and sparked celebrations throughout Catalonia and throughout the blaugrana universe.

Horror start

It wasn’t the first time Barça have leaked two early goals this season, but thankfully neither was it the first time that we’ve seen some turn on the magic and dig their way out of trouble.

The pre-game party atmosphere, what with the mosaic, Pedri parading his player of the month award, Europe Day celebrations and the music of Travis Scott, was quickly dampened as Real Madrid struck not once but twice in the first quarter of an hour.

Wojciech Szczesny brought down Kylian Mbappé for a fifth minute penalty that the Frenchman himself converted, and the former PSG man then doubled the visitors’ lead nine minutes later.

But after that strong start, Madrid then utterly lost the plot, while Barça’s reaction was sheer perfection.

Lightning recovery

Incredibly it took the Liga leaders just twenty minutes to not only fight back level but to take the lead!

Four minutes after going two down, Dani Olmo floated in acorner kick, Eric García iet it with head and that was one goal back already.

Lamine Yamal had to be part of it, and there he was curling in an absolute beauty to level the scores and the Estadi Olímpic was still in delirium celebrating when Barça struck a third time.

Raphinha three and four!

Madrid fluffed an attack on their own, and instead Pedri initiated a lightning counter attack that ended with Raphinha stroking home to make it 3-2.

The Brazilian would soon be getting another goal in his account. The all-white defence was all over the place as a one-two between the Brazilian and Ferran Torres ended with Thibaut Courtois being beaten for the fourth time in the game…

Clásicos never let us down when it comes to intense drama, but had there ever been a Barça v Real Madrid game quite like this one? We had also seen a Real Madrid penalty and an Mbappé goal both ruled out for offside as Barça flashed back from 2-0 down to go 4-2 up... and we were only half way through!

Madrid back in it

After the restart, Barça were still buzzing with the adrenalin of the first half, with Real Madrid spending a lot of the time chasing shadows, but the best the Catalans could make of it was a Lamine goal disallowed for an earlier offside.

Madrid gradually got their way back into the mix, and also back within one goal when Mbappé completed his hat-trick on 70 minutes.

Nervous finale

It was a wake-up call for Barça and they responded. Courtois had to make a brilliant save to deny Lamine, the youngster then set up Raphinha for what had to be the latter’s third but sailed high and many will argue that a penalty should have been given for an Aurélien Tchouaméni handball but the ref opted not to.

Barça had the one-goal advantage, but the exertions of the marathon against Inter Milan were starting to have their effect and Madrid were ready to give it one last bash in the final minutes.

And they had their chances. Former Barça youth player Víctor Muñoz, on for just his second game, skied a great chance with his first kick of the game, and Mbappé flunked one of his own and had another knocked off for offside.

But just as a late equaliser was looking a very real threat, Fermín López went on the run of a lifetime from the left flank to reach shooting position and the stadium went wild as he struck with jaw-dropping confidence. In the most bizarre and potentially cruellest of circumstances, that goal ended up being discounted because of a handball in the build-up, ruining Fermin’s magic moment but not the moment in general, for the final whistle was just seconds away and the celebrations could begin.

Barça have their fourth Clásico of the season, and La Liga is all but mathematically secure. A win at Espanyol on Thursday would secure it. That game kicks off at 9.30pm CEST.

 

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