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Kylian Mbappe endured a night to forget as Real Madrid were hammed 4-0 by Barcelona in his first El Clasico on Saturday night.
Carlo Ancelotti‘s side came into the tie boasting a 44-game unbeaten home record but they faced a determined Blaugrana outfit, expertly drilled in defence and devastating in attack.
Goals from Lamine Yamal, Raphinha and a brace from Robert Lewandowski inflicted a painful defeat on the defending champions and breathed new energy into Hansi Flick’s project in Catalonia.
The German boss, appointed in the summer to replace club legend Xavi, was known to adopt an uber-offensive approach during his time in the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich. That team depended on the pace of Alphonso Davies to bail them out of trouble when forwards ran into the ocean of space his high defensive line had created.
In Barcelona it appears Flick is able to benefit from the same strategy because the his side’s defensive discipline. On Saturday night, the visitors caught Madrid’s array of attackers offside too many time to number.
Mbappe had the ball in the back of the Barcelona net on two occasions but it matter not as the official dually raised his flag to indicate he had again been done by the Blaugrana defence.
Aside from his successful finishes, the Frenchman had countless more instances where he was found beyond the last defender when a through ball had been delivered.
He was not the only culprit. Vinicius Jr, Madrid’s savior in midweek when they trailed Borussia Dortmund 2-0 at half-time, had a rare off night. Carlo Ancelotti’s side were missing the electric Rodrygo through injury and his absence was keenly felt as the home side scratched around for inspiration as the match drifted away.
The first half has been a fairly even affair, with Madrid starting the better of the two teams before Barcelona grew in confidence and began to string some beautiful passing sequences together.
That somewhat passive existence made way for penetrative aggression after the interval when Robert Lewandowski netted his 13th LaLiga goal of the season, having triggered Madrid’s flimsy offside trap and curled a pinpoint shot around the helpless Andriy Lunin.
The 36-year-old doubled his tally and the visitor’s lead with an exquisite header from the edge of the six-yard box just two minutes later. Fullback Alejandro Balde provided a perfect cross that still needed some work to end up in the back of the net.
That Lewandowski produced just the answer show how his generational powers have been restored under his former Bayern boss. The less said about his point-blank miss the better. That merely served to proved he is human.
Any hope the home side harboured of getting back into the game was extinguished 13 minutes before time when Yamal fired a right-footed shot into the roof of the net. In doing so, the 17-year-old became the youngest player to score in the history of El Clasico.
