French striker Kylian Mbappé had a great night this Sunday against FC Barcelona, on matchday 10 of LaLiga EA Sports, scoring in the Clásico for the fourth consecutive time and beating the Blaugrana team for the first time since April 2024, when he did it with Paris Saint-Germain, while Jude Bellingham showed that his scoring instinct is in tune against the Catalan team, one of the favorite ‘victims’ of both footballers.
Mbappé smiled again against Barça, in his most lethal version, continuing his great start to the season as a strong candidate for top scorer in the League – he already has 11 goals in 10 games. The French attacker beat Polish goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny on three occasions, although two of those goals were disallowed for offside.
The forward was once again decisive in the Classic, scoring the first goal of the game and being the most active player in the white attack. He participated in 21 actions with the ball, had five shots on goal – only Szczesny avoided a higher scoring tally -, with almost 91% passing success (10/11) and only four turnovers in the entire match.
But Mbappé’s night at the Santiago Bernabéu left a stain on the record. The Frenchman missed a penalty around the 50th minute, when the Polish goalkeeper, with a great dive, caused Real Madrid’s first miss from eleven meters in a Clásico for 34 years, when Andoni Zubizarreta saved a penalty from Emilio Butragueño in 1991.
The French ’10’ had not failed from the spot since the last day of the League last season, when Unai Marrero prevented his hat-trick. From then until Szczesny’s great stop, maximum reliability with five penalties scored. Although his failure reminded us of that Mbappé surrounded by more doubts than certainties who missed two shots from eleven meters in a row at Anfield, a square he visits next Tuesday, and San Mamés, where he himself acknowledged that he hit rock bottom almost a year ago.
But his goal against Barça, in his fourth consecutive Clásico scoring, gives him that necessary boost for a key period of the season. And the Catalan team is one of the rivals that has suffered the most from its voracity. Even in the negative series of four games lost last year against Hansi Flick’s team, the Frenchman celebrated five goals, with a ‘treble’ in Montjuïc in the League last May.
He also scored, a lot, against Barça when he was defending the PSG shirt. In two Champions League qualifiers he scored 6 goals, with two wins, a draw and a loss against the Parisians. Special mention deserves his effectiveness in his two visits to Barcelona with the French club, in which he scored a hat-trick, in the first leg of the 2020-21 round of 16, and a double in the quarterfinal return of the 2023-24 season. In total, 12 goals in 9 games as a rival for the Blaugranas.
BELLINGHAM AND ITS POSITIVE RELATIONSHIP WITH THE CLASSIC
Starting his third season as a Madrid player, Jude Bellingham also showed this Sunday that he is very good at FC Barcelona. The Englishman was notable in the white victory and once again showed off his leadership. He brilliantly assisted Mbappé in the first goal of the game and his was the second goal, scoring for the second consecutive game. In addition, he participated in 53 actions with the ball, completed 19 passes, created 2 chances and finished 5 times.
The Englishman’s impact in the Clásico was immediate, and in his first season wearing the Real Madrid shirt he was decisive in the two League matches, with a double in Montjuïc (1-2) and giving the whites the victory at the Santiago Bernabéu with a goal in the final moments for another comeback (3-2).
Some numbers that contrast with Bellingham’s performance against Atlético de Madrid, the merengue team’s other great rival in Spain. The Englishman has only won two of the eight derbies he has played against the red and whites, and he still hasn’t broken his scoring tally, contributing only one assist against the residents of the capital.
Last season, when the arrival of Mbappé forced Carlo Ancelotti to find a new place for the Englishman without much luck, he suffered those four defeats against Barça, without contributing goals or assists despite playing as a starter and every minute of those four Clásicos.
After a complicated shoulder operation, the midfielder is gaining tone and getting closer to his best version, already making three starts with Xabi Alonso, after only being in the starting eleven in one of the five previous games in which he was available. The ‘5’ is beginning to be a key piece for the Tolosarra, concerned with generating the best situations that allow the Englishman to exploit his virtues.