Spain's Real Madrid defeated Barcelona, which had been on a nine-game winning streak since the opening of the season, in El Clasico, widely considered the world's greatest professional football rivalry.

Real Madrid secured a 2-1 victory thanks to the stellar performance of Kylian Mbappe, who scored two goals in the 10th round La Liga away match against Barcelona held at Spotify Camp Nou in Barcelona, Spain, on the morning of October 26 (KST).

Real Madrid extended its winning streak in official matches to five, including three consecutive victories in the league.

With 8 wins and 2 losses, accumulating 24 points, Real Madrid maintained its third-place standing in the league while narrowing the gap with table-leader Barcelona (27 points, 9 wins and 1 loss) to 3 points.

Real Madrid had lost 2-3 to Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup final in January of this year and 0-2 in La Liga in May, but successfully exacted revenge in their first head-to-head match of the new season.

This marks Real Madrid's first victory in El Clasico in about a year, following a 2-1 home win in La Liga in October of last year.

On the other hand, Barcelona, which had enjoyed an exhilarating start with nine straight wins to open the league season, suffered its first defeat.

Including a 2-4 away loss to Paris Saint-Germain (France) in the UEFA Champions League league phase matchday 3 on October 21, Barcelona has now dropped two consecutive official matches.

Barcelona matched Real Madrid's record from the 1968-1969 season for the second-most consecutive wins from the start of a La Liga season, but failed to set a new record for the most consecutive wins.


The tight deadlock was broken in the 41st minute of the first half.

Real Madrid's Yann Diomande sent a ball into the opponent's goal area, which Barcelona defender Gerard Martin failed to clear properly. The ball deflected off Mbappe, who was rushing toward the goal, and went into the net.

Mbappe opened Barcelona's goal once more near the end of the first half, but the goal was ruled out for offside.

Barcelona, which finished the first half trailing, leveled the score in the 16th minute of the second half with an equalizer from Raphinha.

Pedri threaded a pass through the defenders in front of the penalty area, which Raphinha collected and finished with a left-footed shot into the back of the net.

Raphinha retained his place as the league's top scorer with his 13th goal of the season.

However, Real Madrid reclaimed the lead in the 42nd minute of the second half.

During a counterattack, Eduardo Camavinga drove down the right side of the penalty area, eluded the goalkeeper, and passed the ball into the center where Mbappe tapped it into the empty net with his right foot to settle the match.

This was Mbappe's 8th goal in 7 career El Clasico appearances and his 100th official goal since wearing the Real Madrid uniform.

Mbappe brought his season tally to 11 league goals, pulling within two goals of Raphinha.

(Photo: Getty Images)