Barcelona fell five points behind Real Madrid at the top of La Liga as they slid to a 2-1 defeat in Sunday's Clasico. Goals from Kylian Mbappe and Jude Bellingham proved the difference for Los Blancos as Lamine Yamal failed to produce much of note at the other end for the injury-hit Blaugrana.
Madrid started quickly, and thought they had won a penalty when Vinicius Jr went down in the box under pressure from Lamine Yamal, only for the VAR to intervene. The officials were in the spotlight soon after, too, as Mbappe struck from distance after Fermin Lopez lost the ball inside his own half, but the Madrid striker was found to be fractionally offside.
Mbappe eventually broke the deadlock when he ran onto Bellingham's superb through-ball and finished expertly, and Wojciech Szczesny then had to be at his best to keep out efforts from Mbappe and Dean Huijsen. Those saves kept Barca in the game, and they capitalised when Arda Guler surrendered possession on the edge of the Madrid box and Marcus Rashford squared for Fermin to equalise.
Madrid got themselves back in front before half-time when Bellingham tapped in from Eder Militao's header across the penalty area, and had the opportunity to double their advantage shortly after the break when Eric Garcia was punished for a handball in the penalty area, only for Szczesny to save Mbappe's spot-kick.
Barca huffed and puffed in search of a second equaliser, but their lack of options off the bench was exposed as they failed to create much of note to test Thibaut Courtois, and their frustrations were summed up in stoppage time when Pedri earned himself a second yellow card.
GOAL rates Barca's players from Santiago Bernabeu…
AFPGoalkeeper & Defence
Wojciech Szczesny (7/10):
Made a couple of good parries in the first half before saving brilliantly from Mbappe's penalty. Had no chance with either goal.
Jules Kounde (4/10):
Ripped to shreds by Vinicius on more than one occasion and failed to offer Yamal the support he needed to thrive in attack.
Pau Cubarsi (5/10):
Allowed Mbappe to run off the back of him for the opening goal. Made a couple of blocks but still has work to do against elite-level forwards.
Eric Garcia (5/10):
Enjoyed his best moments when making forays forward from centre-back. Gave away the penalty, though it was a very harsh handball decision.
Alejandro Balde (5/10):
Made some good forward runs but wasn't always found. Perhaps should have done better up against Militao for the second goal.
AdvertisementAFPMidfield
Frenkie de Jong (4/10):
Kept things too simple in possession while he failed to keep track of Bellingham when out of it, most notably when he lost the Madrid midfielder as he scored the second goal.
Pedri (5/10):
Created space for himself at times with quick feet and did well to rob Guler for the Barca equaliser. Fooled by Bellingham in the build-up to the opener and was outmuscled by his opposite number on occasion, too. Grew more and more frustrated before getting himself sent off for a second yellow in stoppage time.
Fermin Lopez (5/10):
In the right place to score the equaliser but lacked conviction when he was presented with other opportunities. Lucky that Mbappe strayed marginally offside after he carelessly lost possession early on.
Getty Images SportAttack
Lamine Yamal (3/10):
Miles off his best as almost everything he tried didn't come off. His passing and shooting was wayward throughout while he left Kounde isolated up against Vinicius in defence.
Ferran Torres (3/10):
Given the chance to lead the line but was nowhere near the level required. Replaced by holding midfielder Casado with Barca chasing a goal, which summed up his lack of threat.
Marcus Rashford (6/10):
Looked the most dangerous of Barca's attackers as his pace caused panic at times, which he showed good composure to assist Fermin.
AFPSubs & Manager
Ronald Araujo (6/10):
Made a couple of important blocks while being left exposed at the back as Barca chased an equaliser.
Marc Casado (5/10):
One of the few senior players who Flick could throw on, but he didn't offer much.
Roony Bardghji (N/A):
Thrown on in the final 10 minutes to boost the attacking numbers.
Gerard Martin (N/A):
On in stoppage time.
Hansi Flick (5/10):
His options are admittedly limited, but he may have been better served using Ferran off the bench as a game-changer given his lack of impact. Title defence already looks in real jeopardy.