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After being swept aside in four consecutive Clásicos last season, Real Madrid will look to reclaim bragging rights over Barcelona on Sunday — with Kylian Mbappé leading the charge.
Under Hansi Flick, Barça clinched a domestic treble last term, defeating Madrid twice in La Liga and triumphing again in both the Copa del Rey and Spanish Super Cup finals.
Those defeats brought Carlo Ancelotti’s time in charge to an end, paving the way for Xabi Alonso’s arrival at the Santiago Bernabéu.
Alonso’s impact has been immediate, with Madrid sitting two points ahead of Barcelona at the top of La Liga.
Yet doubts linger over their ability to perform on the biggest occasions following a Club World Cup semi-final loss to Paris Saint-Germain and a humbling 5-2 defeat to city rivals Atlético Madrid in September.
A win on Sunday would open up a five-point gap over their Catalan rivals and go some way towards dispelling those concerns.
While Barcelona have struggled to reach last season’s heights, Madrid’s revival has been spearheaded by the exceptional form of Mbappé.
The French forward has scored in 11 consecutive matches for club and country this season and tops the La Liga scoring charts with 10 goals — half of Madrid’s total. Across all competitions, he has netted 15 times, accounting for 54 per cent of the team’s goals.
“We’re not dependent on him,” Alonso insisted last week, though the numbers tell a different story. “We are very happy with his performance; he’s being decisive.”
Mbappé’s early months in Madrid were less convincing. His debut Clásico, a year ago at the Bernabéu, ended in a 4-0 defeat for Los Blancos, with the striker repeatedly caught offside and struggling to adapt to Barcelona’s high defensive line. “Shrunken and without venom,” wrote AS at the time.
Determined to turn things around, Mbappé vowed to “show who I am as a player” in the weeks that followed. His confidence grew steadily, and although Madrid were beaten 5-2 in the Spanish Super Cup and 3-2 in the Copa del Rey final, the Frenchman found the net in both fixtures.
By the time of their final league meeting in May, he scored a hat-trick in a 4-3 defeat — proof that he had rediscovered his edge, even if Madrid’s defensive frailties persisted.
This season, his burgeoning partnership with Turkish playmaker Arda Güler has added a new dimension to Madrid’s attack. “Arda gets between the lines and finds Mbappé well,” Alonso explained, noting their growing understanding.
With Barcelona struggling defensively in the early weeks of the campaign, Madrid are confident their talisman can exploit the gaps once again — and finally end the Clásico curse that haunted them last season.
