Barcelona closes in as Real Madrid blows El Clasico chance
Barcelona moved seven points clear of Real Madrid at the top of LaLiga after a wild 4-3 win at home in a Clasico that was as breathless as any that had gone before it.
Madrid was on the board after just five minutes via a penalty after Kylian Mbappe pounced on a mistake in the Barcelona defence and was chopped down in the box by Wojciech Szczesny.
Mbappe slotted the spot-kick home and fewer than 10 minutes later, he found himself one-on-one with Szczesny again, beating him once more with a cool right-footed finish to the far corner to put Madrid in dreamland.
But the two goals stirred the beast in Barcelona, and after forcing Thibaut Courtois into a string of saves, the hosts converted form a corner as Eric Garcia nodded home to half the deficit.
Barcelona began to dominate from then on, playing at break-neck speed with and without the ball as Madrid struggled to cope with the frantic pace.
Just after the half-hour mark, Madrid cracked under the pressure as a succession of slick Barca passes manoeuvred the ball to Lamine Yamal, who struck first time with his left foot to curl a shot past Courtois and into the far corner and level the scores.
Shell-shocked, Madrid fell behind two minutes later as Raphina received a sublime throughball fro Pedri before slotting past Courtois.
Mbappe had a penalty cancelled by the video assistant referee as Madrid tried to cling on to something, but right on half-time, Raphina was celebrating his second goal after he punished Lucas Vazquez for a dreadful mistake at the back.
The second period was never likely to be as frantic as the first, but Madrid did pull a goal back with 20 minutes left to play when Vinicius Junior and Mbappe broke away, Vinicius gifting Mbappe the goal to allow him to complete his hat-trick with a tap-in.
Madrid created several clear-cut chances to level the game, but fluffed them all, and when Ferran Torres produced a sensational bit of skill to score what looked like a fifth, it was with some relief for Carlo Ancelotti's side that it was chalked off for a handball in the build-up.
