Barca beat Real Madrid in thriller to move to brink of Liga title
by AFP · The42LAST UPDATE | 15 hrs ago
BARCELONA MOUNTED A spectacular comeback to beat Real Madrid 4-3 and move to the brink of the La Liga title.
Kylian Mbappe scored a hat-trick for Los Blancos but Raphinha’s double and goals from Lamine Yamal and Eric Garcia gave Barcelona a seven-point lead on reigning champions Madrid with three matches remaining.
Hansi Flick’s side were knocked out of the Champions League in the semi-finals by Inter Milan on Tuesday and risked their season collapsing if they were beaten by Madrid, but they resisted after Mbappe’s early brace.
Barcelona battled back to claim a fourth Clasico victory from four meetings this season, showing their dominance over Carlo Ancelotti’s side.
Real Madrid had made the perfect start to what is expected to be the Italian coach’s final Clasico at the helm.
Mbappe earned a penalty when he was scythed down by Barcelona goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny, although the Catalans complained in vein the French forward was offside in the build-up.
The striker beat Szczesny, who dived the right way and got his fingers to it, but could not keep it out.
In the 14th minute Mbappe doubled Madrid’s advantage with a lethal finish after Vinicius Junior played him through, with Barcelona complaining again about a perceived foul on Yamal earlier in the move.
It was his 26th La Liga strike, taking him past Barcelona’s Robert Lewandowski on 25 at the top of the scoring charts, and his 38th of the season across all competitions, beating Ivan Zamorano’s club record of 37 in a first season with Los Blancos.
Just as they have done on so many occasions this season, Flick’s spirited young Barcelona fought their way back in front with a stirring comeback.
Thibaut Courtois tipped Gerard Martin’s drive over, and from the corner Eric Garcia headed home Ferran Torres’ flick-on.
Torres flicked wide from close range with an improvised effort and Fede Valverde was booked for a crunching tackle on whirlwind teenager Yamal.
Madrid could not stop the 17-year-old star from levelling with a cultured bending effort beyond Courtois after Torres laid the ball off to him in the box.
Raphinha brace
Two minutes later, Raphinha sent Barca ahead, with Pedri threading a pass through for the Brazilian winger to drill home.
Raphinha headed over from a brilliant Yamal cross with the outside of his boot, something of a trademark for the Spain international.
Mbappe thought he had won another penalty when he fell under pressure from Frenkie de Jong but VAR revealed an offside in the build-up.
Moments later, Raphinha netted his second, picking Lucas Vazquez’s pocket on the edge of the area, exchanging passes with Torres and beating Courtois.
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Mbappe netted from an offside position before the break, bringing a rollercoaster first half to a close.
Yamal had a goal ruled out for offside early in the second half as Barcelona looked to put their arch-rivals to the sword.
Flick brought on Alejandro Balde and Andreas Christensen, with the latter cutting out a dangerous ball as Vinicius looked for Mbappe.
Next time around the Brazilian found his man, with Mbappe slotting home his hat-trick as he and Vinicius broke in behind Barca’s high line.
Barcelona appealed for a penalty when Aurelien Tchouameni blocked Torres’ shot with his arm, but after watching the incident again the referee decided not to award a penalty.
Real Madrid substitute Victor Munoz might have levelled late on but fired high and wide when sent through, and Szczesny denied Mbappe, who had another strike ruled out for offside.
Barcelona thought they had wrapped up their win with a superb Fermin Lopez solo effort but it was harshly disallowed for handball against the midfielder.
Madrid had no time left to fight back though, and Barcelona, who last won the league in 2023, could seal the title as early as Wednesday, should Los Blancos stumble against Mallorca.
Meanwhile, Bayer Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso said an announcement on his future was “not too far” away after he bid an emotional goodbye following his final home match with the club on Sunday.
On Friday, Alonso announced he would leave the club in the summer, with Sunday’s game — a 4-2 loss to Champions League-chasing Borussia Dortmund — his last at Leverkusen’s BayArena.
Alonso is widely expected to join Real Madrid, where he won the Champions League and La Liga as a player.
Madrid’s 4-3 loss at Barcelona on Sunday all but sealed the Spanish title for the Catalans, with coach Carlo Ancelotti expected to leave the Santiago Bernabeu at the end of the season, leaving the seat empty for Alonso.
Last season Alonso knocked back reported interest from Liverpool, Madrid and Bayern Munich. He Alonso has repeatedly dodged questions about his future, but indicated an announcement was around the corner.
“We will see in the future. Not too long, but we need to wait. Today is about our club, our players,” Alonso told DAZN.
“For me it’s the end of a super era in my life and I want to enjoy it, and afterwards we’ll see.
“I was emotional and this club will stay in my heart forever.”
Alonso’s final game in charge of Leverkusen will be away to Mainz next Saturday.
In Italy, Napoli’s bid for a second Serie A title in three seasons was hit by Sunday’s 2-2 home draw with Genoa which allowed Inter Milan to move to within a point of the league leaders thanks to their dramatic 2-0 win at Torino.
Antonio Conte’s team’s destiny is still in their hands with two matches remaining in the season, and two wins against Parma and Cagliari will secure the Scudetto.
But Inter will have hope of retaining their league crown after Johan Vasquez’s thumping header gave Genoa a late draw at a packed Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
“They had two shots on target and scored two goals. These things happen,” said a visibly irritated Conte to DAZN.
“It’s annoying because we should have won given what we created and how we played. It’s disappointing to not win like this at the start of the season, forget about it with three matches remaining.
“But I can’t complain about the performance, we had 11 shots on target, all of the ball… We have to go and win the other two matches, that’s all there is to do it.”
Giacomo Raspadori thought he had won the game and all but secured the title for Napoli in the 64th minute after a wonderful piece of skill to control Scott McTominay’s pass.
McTominay also set up Romelu Lukaku’s 15th-minute opener which was cancelled out in the 32nd minute when Napoli goalkeeper Alex Meret inadvertantly diverted Honest Ahanor’s header into his own goal.
And Vasquez piled the pressure on Napoli who also lost Stanislav Lobotka early on after Conte selected the key midfielder even though he hadn’t recovered from an ankle injury.
Inter close the gap
The cheers will have rung around the blue and black half of Milan when Vasquez powered home Genoa’s late leveller, after Nicola Zalewski and Kristjan Asllani gave Inter just their second away win in eight Serie A matches under torrential rain.
“It’s not up to us, so all we can do is do our jobs. That’s what happened today,” said Inter coach Simone Inzaghi.
“Now we’ve got a few days’ rest after the tour de force the boys have had recently.”
Inter could have done without more drama after their epic Champions League semi-final win over Barcelona on Tuesday, but the match was barely underway when it was stopped as aid was rushed to a Torino supporter who had fallen from a stand.
An attritional match which Inter started with nine changes from their midweek triumph went in the away side’s favour in the 14th minute when Zalewski spun and curled home his first goal for the champions.
The game was stopped a minute from half-time as rain became a biblical downpour which left the pitch in Turin unplayable.
Even though the first half was completed following a short pause, the two teams then remained in the dressing rooms for over half an hour as the rain continued to pour.
Once back out, Asllani almost immediately doubled Inter’s lead with his second penalty in as many weeks, after Mehdi Taremi was brought down by Torino goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic.
That goal was enough for Inter to claim the points and hand mid-table Torino a first home defeat of 2025.
Earlier, Verona inched towards safety from relegation with a 1-1 home draw with fellow strugglers Lecce which moved Paolo Zanetti’s team five points above the drop zone.