Barcelona beat Real Madrid 4:3 in another edition of El Clasico. In the decisive battle for the title in the Spanish La Liga, the Catalans opened a seven-point gap over their biggest rivals and only a miracle can leave the trophy in Madrid.

The start was for the reigning champions from Real. Barca were still feeling the pressure from the dramatic elimination by Inter in the Champions League semi-finals last week and Kylian Mbappe opened the scoring from a penalty in the 5th minute, awarded for a foul by Wojciech Szczesny on himself. Soon after, Mbappe broke away from the offside after a nice pass from Vinicius Junior and scorched Szczesny and company for the second time. The reaction of Blaugranas was not long in coming. Eric Garcia reduced the gap for the team led by Hansi Flick with a header. Real collapsed within two minutes between the 32nd and 34th, when first Lamine Yamal overcame Thibaut Courtois with an exquisite shot, and then Raphinha punished a misunderstanding in the center between Dani Ceballos and Mbappe. At the end of the half, the score became 4:2 after another goal by Raphinha and Real were almost knocked out.

However, Carlo Ancelotti's men found the strength to return a goal after the break through Mbappe, who formed his hat-trick, but they could not reach at least a draw. Thus, Barca defeated their great rival for the fourth time in as many meetings this season between them - the finals of the Super Cup and the Spanish Cup, as well as in the first match of the championship at the Bernabeu.

In the standings, Barcelona leads Real by seven points, three rounds before the end of the season. The next round features a Catalan derby with Espanyol, while the Real will try to heal its wounds at home against Mallorca. | BGNES