Barcelona were beaten in the first El Clásico of 2025–26 as Real Madrid ran out 2–1 winners on Sunday afternoon.
The visitors remained depleted and were lethargic for much of the game, surrendering high-quality openings to their determined hosts, who were inefficient but still walked away with all three points.
Another incident-laden Clásico was won by a Jude Bellingham tap-in at the end of the first half, after Fermín López had cancelled out Kylian Mbappé’s opener. Wojciech Szczęsny’s penalty save at the start of the second period sparked some Catalan momentum, but Hansi Flick’s side ran out of steam towards the end of the contest with ended with a red card for Pedri.
The defeat leaves the La Liga champions five points adrift of Madrid through 10 outings.
