In yet another Clásico against their historic rivals Real Madrid, Barcelona edged it the hard way, winning a spectacular 3–2 thriller.
- Barcelona 3-2 Real Madrid : Raphinha 36’ 74’, Lewandowski 45+4 – Vinicius 45+2, Garcia 45+6
Since the Clásico on October 26 that had confirmed Real Madrid’s superiority, Barça have undergone a clear transformation. After the Chelsea storm on November 25, Barcelona have turned a corner, stringing together strong performances, carried by a Raphinha back to his very best level. Yet despite Barça’s dominance, Real created chances on the counter, but the wastefulness of Vinícius Jr. and young Gonzalo García prevented Los Blancos from taking the lead.
After a high-tempo opening 30 minutes, Barcelona gradually took control, with Lamine Yamal beginning to create danger. In the 35th minute, he released Raphinha with a sublime one-touch pass, but the Brazilian failed to convert. Moments later, the left winger made amends by opening the scoring for Barça.
Then came a chaotic seven minutes of stoppage time that produced three goals. Vinícius equalized after a brilliant solo run, taking advantage of poor defending from Koundé. Lewandowski restored Barcelona’s lead with a magnificent chipped finish, only for García to level again from a corner kick.
In just three minutes, the match exploded, raising memories of last season’s seven-goal Clásico and suggesting history might repeat itself. Instead, the second half proved far calmer. Barcelona monopolized possession but ran into a compact Real Madrid defense, reinforced by Tchouaméni dropping between Raúl Asencio and Huijsen.
Finally, in the 73rd minute, Raphinha broke the deadlock again, benefiting from a deflected ball off an unfortunate Spanish defender. That would be the final goal of the match, despite Kylian Mbappé’s introduction, two chances created by the Frenchman, and Frenkie de Jong’s red card that reduced Barça to ten men.
This victory confirms Barcelona’s resurgence and plunges Real Madrid deeper into doubt.