Barcelona, May 11 (IANS) Real Madrid once again fell to their rivals FC Barcelona as they succumbed to their fourth El Clasico loss this season with a 3-5 defeat at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys. A hattrick by Kylian Mbappe was not enough as the Catalonians firmly grabbed the bragging rights on Sunday.
Goals by Eric Garcia, Lamine Yamal and a brace by Raphinha secured the comeback win for the hosts after Mbappe early burst of goals had them trailing by two within the opening 15 minutes.
With this victory, Barcelona moved seven points clear of Real Madrid in La Liga standings and now need to win only one of their three remaining games to clinch the league title for the 28th time.
Mbappe looked ready for the occasion from the get go and earned a penalty, after drawing a foul by goalie Wojciech Szczesny in the 5thh minute which he converted with ease. He doubled their advantage just nine minutes later. An assist by Vinicius Jr saw the Frenchman convert his 38th goal of the season which saw him move past Chilean striker Ivan Zamorano, who scored a remarkable 37 goals for Real Madrid in the 1992/93 season, the most by a player in his debut season for the club.
However the visitor’s were in for a rude awakening as Ferran Torres, during a corner, glanced the ball towards Garcia which he headed in goal in the 19th minute.
The floodgates were open and Barca chased the deficit like hungry wolves. Yamal continued his wonder season with a driven shot which lay low making it difficult for Courtois in goal to make the save.
Just two minutes later Raphinha had his first goal of the day. The Brazilian winger was fed beautifully on the wing by midfielder Pedri which he made no mistake in converting. Raphinha doubled Barca’s advantage just minutes before the half-time whistle.
Madrid were not able to crawl out of the hole dug by their rivals and had to end their 24-25 campaign ends winless against rivals FC Barcelona this season after having lost 0-4 at the Bernabeu earlier in the league, 2-5 in the Spanish Super Cup Final in Riyadh, and 2-3 at La Cartuja in the Copa del Rey Final.
–IANS
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