El Clasico: Real Madrid and Mbappé fight; Barcelona follows up

MADRID – Robert Lewandowski scored twice while Lamine Yamal and Raphinha each scored as Barcelona capped a remarkable week with a 4-0 win over Real Madrid in Saturday's Clásico at the Santiago Bernabéu. The one-sided defeat ended Real Madrid's unbeaten streak of 42 games in LaLiga.

Veteran striker Lewandowski scored twice in three minutes of the second half to get Barça on their way, with Yamal putting the third into the net and Raphinha throwing the fourth over the head of goalkeeper Andriy Lunin, who was filling in for the injured Thibaut Courtois.

The win comes just three days after Barça beat Bayern Munich 4-1 in the Champions League, giving them six points clear of rivals Madrid at the top of the LaLiga table after 11 games.

Madrid had not suffered a defeat in the league since losing to Atlético Madrid at the start of last season and even a draw here would have seen them equal Barça's record 43-game unbeaten LaLiga streak.

But after a goalless first half in which Kylian Mbappé and Real Madrid missed a host of chances, Carlo Ancelotti's side were torn apart by a ruthless Barça side, whose incredible start to the season continued under new coach Hansi Flick at the home of their biggest rivals.

Here are the key talking points from El Clásico:

Mbappé has a Clásico debut to forget

This was supposed to be Mbappé's Clásico, his first since joining Madrid from Paris Saint-Germain in the summer, the biggest blockbuster move of the summer transfer window. He has always enjoyed playing against Barça, scoring six goals against them in four appearances with the French team, but he was out of luck on Saturday.

An early missed shot, which was later ruled offside anyway, set the stage for an evening full of missed shots and offsides. One of those offside calls came after he thought he had scored the first goal by passing the ball over Iñaki Peña, but the VAR revealed he had mistimed his run past Iñigo Martínez.

In total, Mbappe was offside six times in the first half, more than he had ever been offside in his career, before two more offside situations in the second half. His eight offsides in a single game are the most of any player in the last 15 LaLiga seasons.

His first official shot on goal came in the 61st minute. More goals followed, as well as another offside goal, but his finishing left a lot to be desired. Peña rejected him every time. On the other hand, he could have learned a lot from Lewandowski.

It was by no means a disastrous start to his Madrid career, but these are the games in which he should have an impact.

He has scored eight goals in all competitions so far, but Madrid fans are still waiting for him to launch a new attack alongside Vinícius Júnior and with Jude Bellingham behind him.

The fans' frustration was palpable as more offside situations occurred in the second half and the game, perhaps fittingly, ended with another offside flag and another save from Peña as Mbappé raced through the game.

Lewandowski anchors the youth revolution in Barcelona

Barça fielded its second youngest team in a Clásico match in 80 years and the youngest since 1956. However, the difference was made by the 36-year-old Lewandowski, who mastered this game away against Madrid with a masterful finishing performance at the start of the second half.

The Polish international, playing alongside Ferland Mendy, completed a brilliant finish in the 54th minute after a pass from Marc Casadó and three minutes later steered a great header past Lunin from a left-wing cross from Alejandro Balde.

Lewandowski's form was criticized at times last season but he was brilliant under his former Bayern coach Flick. He has now scored 14 goals in LaLiga in just 11 appearances this season – and 17 in all competitions. He benefits from staying more central, getting more ball in and around the penalty area and letting the young players run around him.

It was one of the young players, 17-year-old Yamal, who took the game away from Madrid late on. Playing predominantly with his left foot, he may have been able to catch Madrid out by taking his chance early with his right foot and firing the ball past Lunin as there was a stunned silence at the Bernabeu. Yamal thus became the youngest goalscorer of all time in the Clásico.

Raphinha, fresh from a midweek hat-trick, added the fourth and Barça will look back at the missed chances before Yamal's goal – an absolutely glaring miss from Lewandowski in particular – and wonder whether they might score more on the night have.

Barça's high performance is rewarded again

A theme of Barça's season has been their aggressive attacking line and relentless pressing. Before the Clásico, they had the highest defensive line in LaLiga with 61 yards when the ball was in the opposition half. As a result, they recorded over 70 offside incidents this season – more than twice as many as any other team in Europe's top five leagues.

After Bayern passed the test in midweek, the big question was whether they could do it against Madrid, Mbappé and Vinícius.

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Moreno: We didn't know Barcelona were at this level

Ale Moreno praises Hansi Flick and his young Barcelona team for beating rivals Real Madrid 4-0 away.

There were some explosive moments in the first half, not least Mbappé's disallowed goal, but Pau Cubarsí and Martínez stuck to their task, staying as close to the halfway line as possible and repeatedly catching Madrid offside. In the end, Los Blancos They were offside twelve times in the game, including eight times in the first half alone.

The offside trap was supported by the relentless pressing in midfield and further forward from players such as Casadó, Fermín López and Raphinha, with the former being rewarded with an assist for the opening goal. It feels like this team could go far under Flick now.

Ancelotti has a lot to do with his Real Madrid superstar team

Whichever way you look at it, it was a disastrous night for Madrid. Not only did they lose their long unbeaten streak and fall six points behind Barça in LaLiga, but they also suffered their third worst LaLiga defeat of all time. They have not suffered a home defeat like this in the league since 1974.

It brings to the surface a number of problems that have been present all season, even if they have often been masked by brilliant individual performances, such as Vinícius' hat-trick in the midweek comeback against Borussia Dortmund.

However, they miss Toni Kroos deeply. What Mbappé and Vinícius would do to leave his passing game behind. Despite the obvious quality, there is still something missing in attack and there is the Bellingham problem. He hasn't scored a goal in 11 games this season after scoring a career-high 23 last season.

To top it all off, Courtois and David Alaba were missing and they collapsed defensively in the second half.

The season is still young and Madrid have a habit of peaking when it matters most, but Ancelotti still has a lot of work to do.