A Mbappe brace in El Clasico gave Real Madrid a dramatic 2-1 win over Barcelona at Camp Nou on Sunday, as Kylian Mbappe scored in the 41st minute, watched Raphinha equalise for the hosts in the 61st, and then struck again late — in the 87th minute, from an Eduardo Camavinga cut-back — to hand Barcelona their first league defeat of the season. Barcelona had won all nine of their LaLiga matches before Sunday. The win moves Madrid, who started the day six points behind, to within three points of Barcelona at the top after ten games.
How the Clasico was won and lost
Madrid struck first four minutes before half-time. Mbappe opened the scoring in the 41st minute, giving Jose Mourinho's side a 1-0 lead they carried into the break against a Barcelona team that had not dropped a single league point all season. It was, on the reporting of theScore and TNT Sports' live coverage, a lead built on patience rather than dominance: Barcelona pressed, Madrid waited, and the game's best finisher took the one clear opening of the first half.
Barcelona levelled on the hour. Raphinha equalised in the 61st minute, finishing from a short corner routine — Pedri, at the top of the box, played a cutting short pass to the Brazilian, whose shot went between Jude Bellingham's legs and slipped past Andriy Lunin, who got a piece of it, according to USA Today's live report. At 1-1, with Camp Nou surging and Lamine Yamal inches wide with a swerving effort around the 80th minute, the momentum looked entirely Barcelona's.
Then Madrid broke it. In the 87th minute, Camavinga — on as a substitute for Bernardo Silva — raced beyond Pau Cubarsi and cut the ball back for Mbappe, who tapped into an open goal with goalkeeper Joan Garcia unable to get off his line in time, a move TNT Sports reported was prompted by Bellingham. Five minutes of added time changed nothing: the final whistle confirmed a 2-1 Madrid win, confirmed independently by Sportradar's final score record (Barcelona 1, Real Madrid 2; half-time 0-1).
The goalkeeper subplot that framed the night
Madrid did it without their first-choice goalkeeper. Thibaut Courtois was a last-minute absence with flu, confirmed by the club hours before kick-off, so Lunin — who had not played a minute this season — started at Camp Nou. Barcelona's goal went through his hands in part, but he was still standing at the end of a win that will be remembered for the other end of the pitch. Vinicius Junior was also suspended for Madrid, which makes the result harder, not easier, to dismiss as a one-off.
What the standings actually say now
Before kick-off, on the figures carried consistently by Reuters, the club statements and pre-match reporting: Barcelona 27 points from nine straight wins, Atletico Madrid 25 in second, Real Madrid 21 in third. Sunday's result changes the arithmetic, not the order. Barcelona stay top on 27, Atletico stay second on 25, and Madrid climb to 24 — three points off the lead instead of six, and one point behind Atletico instead of four. A Barcelona win would have made it nine points and, ten games in, something close to a procession. Instead LaLiga has a three-team race again.
Why this matters
El Clasico results matter beyond three points because they reset what both clubs believe about themselves. Barcelona's nine wins had built an argument — that Hansi Flick's side, beaten 4-2 by Paris Saint-Germain in Europe earlier this month but perfect domestically, were simply a level above the rest of Spain. Sunday does not destroy that argument; one defeat, by one late goal, at home to their biggest rivals, does not make a bad team. It does remove the aura of inevitability, and it does it on the eve of the Ballon d'Or awards, with Yamal — the player around whom Barcelona's season has been marketed — on the losing side of the season's biggest domestic stage.
For Madrid, and for Mourinho in his first Clasico since returning to the club, the win is a proof of concept. This was not a vintage attacking performance; it was a disciplined away performance decided by the most decisive player on the pitch, the same pattern Madrid used in the Madrid derby earlier this season. Critics will note, fairly, that Barcelona had the momentum at 1-1 and that a draw would probably have been the neutral's result. Winners rarely care: a six-point gap becoming three, away from home, without Courtois or Vinicius, is the kind of result title races turn on.
What happens next
Barcelona host Alaves on October 31 knowing a second straight slip would hand Atletico or Madrid the lead; Madrid travel to Racing Santander on November 1 with the chance to go top, at least briefly, for the first time this season. The longer question is squad-deep: Barcelona's perfect start was built on a settled, attacking side, and how Flick responds to the first domestic setback — rotation, or doubling down — will shape the winter. For now, the only number that matters in Spain is three: three points, the gap at the top, with 28 games still to play.
Sources
Sportradar final match record, FC Barcelona vs Real Madrid, LaLiga matchday 10, October 25, 2026 (final 1-2, half-time 0-1, Camp Nou). theScore, October 25, 2026: "Mbappe's brace fires Real Madrid to Clasico win over Barcelona" (87th-minute winner from a Camavinga cut-back; first league loss of the season for Barcelona; Madrid within three points). TNT Sports live commentary, October 25, 2026 (final whistle 2-1; Raphinha equaliser; Mbappe winner). USA Today live updates, October 25, 2026 (Raphinha 61st-minute equaliser detail; Pedri assist). The Sun, October 25, 2026 (Mbappe opener 41st minute; Barcelona's nine straight league wins ended). Pre-match standings and Courtois flu absence: Reuters, October 25, 2026, and Real Madrid club statement via Barca Blaugranes.