El Clasico: Mbappe's day to forget, Yamal shines and other takeaways from Barcelona’s clinical victory over Real Madrid

FC Barcelona emerged victorious against reigning LaLiga champions Real Madrid in the latest edition of the El Clasico, thumping them 4-0 in the match that was played at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday night. While there are no favourites in a rivalry as fierce as El Clasico, expectations were high from Real Madrid, especially with French superstar Kylian Mbappe in their ranks.

Los Blancos, however, were thoroughly outplayed on their own home turf.

We take a look at five key takeaways from the Real Madrid-Barcelona game:

Kylian Mbappe has a day to forget

France forward Kylian Mbappe was expected to steal the limelight at the El Clasico clash against Barcelona. Instead, he ended up enduring a nightmare. Mbappe had three shots on target against Barcelona, but the Blaugrana goalkeeper Inaki Pena was too strong for the former Paris Saint-Germain player.

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Mbappe appeared to have scored in the 30th minute, but that was ruled offside. To make matters worse, Mbappe was caught offside a total of eight times, that’s more than half of the 12 offsides that Real Madrid committed.

Lamine Yamal is here to stay

Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal is enjoying his life at the Catalan club and that was evident in the way he performed in Saturday’s Clasico. While it was Robert Lewandowski who stole the limelight with a brace, Yamal netted his first El Clasico goal in the 77th minute with a right-footed kick that went past Real Madrid goalkeeper Andriy Lunin.

Score in #ELCLÁSICO. 👀
The Lamine Yamal story continues... pic.twitter.com/xGIS9o5z0l

— LALIGA English (@LaLigaEN) October 26, 2024

Yamal, 17, thus became the youngest player to score in an Clasico. One can expect much better things to come from the teenager this season.

Barcelona’s defensive solidity

It wasn’t just attacking football that was key to Barcelona’s win over Real Madrid. Barcelona employed a high defensive line. Pau Cubarsi and Inigo Martinez rose to the occasion, and having said that, each of the four defenders, Alex Balde and Jules Kounde being the others, were responsible for catching Real Madrid offside on multiple occasions.

“We always play with the back four very high. It looks dangerous - but it’s not dangerous,” Barcelona manager Hansi Flick said after the match.

Real Madrid dominate possession, but miss chances

For a large part of the game, Real Madrid dominated possession against Barcelona. So much so that, Real Madrid began with high intensity football in the first 30 minutes, with Federico Valverde, Vinicius Junior and Kylian Mbappe all getting opportunities. In the 23rd minute, an attempt from Vinicius Junior even went wide.

Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti was left to rue his team’s missed chances, and felt that the turning point was Lewandowski’s opener for Barcelona in the 54th minute.

“It was an evenly played match until they scored their first goal. We played with intensity in the first half but lacked a bit of accuracy. We had chances to take the lead but they scored two goals, which sapped our energy,” he said after the match.

Inaki Pena shows why he can be trusted

Barcelona goalkeeper Pena faces tough competition against Wojciech Szczesny for the primary spot, but if his performance on Saturday is to go by, he is proving himself on the biggest stage. Pena made several saves against Real Madrid, and even showcased his reflexes with a couple of diving efforts.

And to do this against the likes of Mbappe and Vinicius Jr is no mean feat. It will be interesting to see if Barcelona continue to persist with Pena, which could mean that the Poland international continue to warm the bench.