Barcelona Edges Real Madrid 4-3 in Thrilling Clasico, Moves Closer to La Liga Title

Barcelona Edges Real Madrid 4-3 in Thrilling Clasico, Moves Closer to La Liga Title

FC Barcelona took a major stride toward securing the La Liga championship on Sunday night after defeating Real Madrid 4-3 in one of the most entertaining El Clasico encounters in recent memory. Despite a stunning hat-trick by Real Madrid star Kylian Mbappe, goals from Raphinha (2), Eric Garcia, and Lamine Yamal powered Barcelona to a crucial victory that places them seven points ahead with just three matches remaining.

The game at Santiago Bernabéu started dramatically, with a costly error by Barcelona defender Pau Cubarsi giving Mbappe a clear chance just five minutes in. The Frenchman was brought down by goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny and converted the resulting penalty to open the scoring.

Mbappe doubled Madrid’s lead in the 13th minute, timing his run perfectly to beat the offside trap and smashing home a confident finish past Szczesny.

Barcelona quickly responded, narrowing the deficit in the 19th minute when Eric Garcia headed in from close range after Ferran Torres flicked on a Dani Olmo corner. The equalizer came in the 32nd minute through 16-year-old Lamine Yamal, who struck a superb left-footed shot after another Torres assist.

Just two minutes later, Barcelona seized the lead. A miscommunication between Fede Valverde and Mbappe allowed Pedri to steal the ball and feed Raphinha, who calmly slotted past Madrid keeper Andriy Lunin with his left foot.

Raphinha nearly added another with a header that went over, but just before halftime he made no mistake. After dispossessing Lucas Vazquez, the Brazilian exchanged passes with Torres and finished emphatically to make it 4-2.

Madrid pushed forward in the second half and found a lifeline when Mbappe completed his hat-trick by again beating the offside trap to reduce the deficit. He nearly added a fourth later but fired tamely at Szczesny. Substitute Victor Munoz also came close for Madrid, missing narrowly in the dying minutes.

Barcelona weathered the late pressure to secure the victory, and now a win against city rivals Espanyol on Thursday will officially crown them La Liga champions.

Photo: Getty Images

MORE NEWS