Mbappé Double Helps Real Madrid Beat Barcelona at Camp Nou
Kylian Mbappé scored twice as Real Madrid beat Barcelona at Camp Nou on Sunday, ending Barcelona's nine-game winning run.
El Clásico is the name for the meetings between Spain's two biggest clubs, and it is one of the most watched fixtures in football. This one was played on Sunday 25 October 2026, with a 9pm kickoff in Barcelona, which is 8pm in GMT. Real Madrid came into it as the side with a late-season rhythm, having won 4-1 at Sevilla a week earlier, where Mbappé also scored twice.
Barcelona had looked close to unstoppable this month. They had won every league game so far and had beaten Getafe 3-0 at home only two weeks before. So this was a real test for their run, and it was Real Madrid who passed it.
Barcelona went into the game with a goal from Raphinha, the Brazilian winger who has now scored seven goals in El Clásico matches, according to LaLiga. Vinícius Júnior, Real Madrid's other Brazilian forward, leads the active players with eight. Raphinha was the one to bring Barcelona level, and the match stayed level into the last stretch.
Then came the winning move. With about three minutes left, Jude Bellingham found Eduardo Camavinga, and Camavinga pulled the ball back for Mbappé to finish. It was a simple move, and it was made with the calm of a team that has done this before.
Mbappé had already been Real Madrid's top scorer this season before kickoff, with 12 goals in his games for the club. Ahead of the match, Real Madrid also noted that Güler and Diomande had scored in each of their last two games, which gave the squad a little more shape going into the match. Real Madrid named their starting lineup on the day, and the team sheet looked much like the one they had used in their recent wins.
For Barcelona, the defeat is the first real dent in a start that had been close to perfect. Their nine-game winning run is over, and they now have to respond at home. Real Madrid, meanwhile, leave with the win and with the kind of late goal that tends to stick in fans' memories.
For neutral fans, the lesson of the afternoon is simple. A two-goal lead can still be lost. A team can still come back from behind. And the last three minutes of a derby can change the mood of two cities at once.
Pre-season and early-season predictions had favoured Barcelona to retain the LaLiga title, with a 77.93 percent chance given by one forecasting model reported by Al Jazeera. The table is long, and a single Clásico does not decide a season, but it does change the conversation for both clubs.
