Barcelona lose 2-1 to Real Madrid

Barcelona lost 2-1 to Real Madrid at Camp Nou in Matchday 10 of La Liga. Kylian Mbappe scored both goals for Jose Mourinho's side. Barcelona had started the season with nine wins in the league, and Hansi Flick's football had earned plenty of praise. Still, this match showed that problems against strong opponents in the Champions League remain.

After the game, Mourinho explained how his side got past Barcelona's high defensive line. In his view, opposing forwards had struggled to play in behind, and the solution lay in midfield. Eduardo Camavinga and Jude Bellingham's runs from deep broke the line, and Mbappe's goal came from one of those runs. In the first Clasico, Mbappe had been caught offside seven times because of Barcelona's high line. This time he reached the position he was looking for.

Barcelona are still at the top of the league and have a squad that can comfortably beat many teams. However, Flick needs to win the big matches if he wants Champions League success. In the last two seasons, Inter and Atletico Madrid had knocked Barcelona out of Europe. What happened this week brought that record back to mind.

Atletico Madrid beat Deportivo A Coruna 1-0 to move into second place, two points behind Barcelona. Julian Alvarez scored the goal. The Argentine forward had been a Barcelona target in the summer and had scored against them in last season's Champions League quarter-final. Alvarez apologised for comments he had recently made about his new club, and he also received praise from Diego Simeone.

Valencia lost 2-1 to Villarreal in the derby. English player Harvey Elliott came on late, was shown a red card after protesting a decision, and Georges Mikautadze's goal in the final minute sealed the defeat.