Real Madrid 2-1 Barcelona: Mbappe and Bellingham on target as Los Blancos go five points clear at La Liga summit | OneFootball

Real Madrid emerged victorious in the first El Clasico of the 2025-26 season, courtesy of a 2-1 win over Barcelona on Sunday.

Madrid were beaten four times in a row by Barcelona last season and were keen to get one over their biggest rivals.

Los Blancos thought they had the chance to open the scoring from the penalty spot four minutes in before the Video Assistant Referee intervened to change the referee’s original decision.

Barcelona were bailed out by the VAR once again ten minutes later, when Kylian Mbappe had a stunning strike ruled out for offside.

Undeterred by their near moments, Madrid had the ball in the back of the net for the second time midway through the first half, and there was no denying the hosts a well-deserved lead.

Jude Bellingham’s inch-perfect pass to Mbappe was finished with aplomb for his 11th league strike of the campaign.

Buoyed by his opener, Mbappe continued to terrorise the Barcelona defence and drew a fine stop out of Wojciech Szczesny just shy of the half-hour mark.

Szczesny needed to be on alert to deny Dean Huijsen a goal on his El Clasico debut as Madrid remained in the ascendancy.

Barcelona’s first decent opportunity fell to Ferran Torres, but he fluffed his lines.

Mbappe turned provider for a Vinicius Junior attempt, which was tipped around the post before Bellingham had an effort comfortably saved.

Having been on the back foot for large spells of the first half, Barcelona equalised seven minutes from the interval.

Arda Guler was robbed of possession in a dangerous area by Pedri. He released Marcus Rashford, who found Fermin Lopez to cap off a fine team move.

However, Barcelona’s parity lasted only five minutes as Madrid retook the lead via Bellingham.

The Englishman was on hand to finish Eder Militao’s header back across goal from point-blank range.

Mbappe had a second goal ruled out for offside in stoppage time, while Ferran Torres called Thibaut Courtois into action for the half’s final moment of note.

Madrid began the second period with intent and were awarded a penalty in the early exchanges of the second period, this time with the intervention of the VAR.

However, Mbappe was unable to get the better of Szczesny from 12 yards.

Another Madrid goal was rightfully ruled out for offside just past the halfway point of the half as the hosts looked the more likely of the two sides to grab the next goal.

Lamine Yamal was a peripheral figure for the vast majority of the game, but he produced a stunning pass to find Jules Kounde in the Madrid box. His touch let him down at the crucial moment.

Barcelona continued to huff and puff, albeit all to no avail, as the game entered into nine additional minutes.

With the away side pouring forward in search of an equaliser, Madrid had a chance to seal the deal on the break through Rodrygo, but he fired straight at Szczesny.

Rodrygo called Szczesny into action shortly afterwards from a direct free kick, but he proved up to the task once again.

Tempers flared in the final seconds of the contest, with several players ending up booked.

Madrid held on to claim all three points and extend their winning run to five matches across all competitions.

Xabi Alonso’s men are now five points clear at the top of the La Liga standings.