Seven Ballon d’Or nominees started Sunday’s Clasico at Camp Nou. Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappe stood out from the pack, scoring both his side’s goals in a shock 2-1 win at the home of their greatest rival.
Barcelona had won all nine league games to begin the season, averaging more than four goals per game, and would have gone nine points clear of Madrid had they won. But Madrid coach Jose Mourinho does not follow convention, nor did his team.
They frustrated Barcelona throughout, took the lead before the break and got the winner three minutes from time following some magical skill from Jude Bellingham and then Mbappe. Madrid’s players were joined by half of their bench as they celebrated right in front of the most vocal Barca fans, which did not go down well. Raphinha had equalised for Barca after 61 minutes in front of the 62,000-strong crowd as the stadium continues its redevelopment towards a 105,000-seat capacity.
El Clasico justified its status as the biggest game in world football, an intense battle between two giants powered by some of the best players. England’s Premier League may be the pre-eminent league, but Barcelona and Madrid are huge attractions; Barcelona, in particular, produces sublime footballing talents.
Both clubs will be represented at the Ballon d’Or Awards at London’s Palladium Theatre on Monday. Madrid didn’t attend the previous two ceremonies after learning that Vinicius Jnr wouldn’t win an award.
For Barcelona, Pau Cubarsi, Rodri and Lamine Yamal are among the 30 nominees. For Madrid, Bellingham, Marc Cucurella, Mbappe and Vinicius are in the running.
Yamal and Cubarsi are both only 19 years old. Both grew up in Catalonia, north of Barcelona, as did Cucurella. Much is made of the concentration of top managers from Spain’s smallest province, Gipuzkoa, but there's a small area of Catalonia north of Barcelona with towns and villages that have produced an inordinate amount of footballing talent.
Como boss Cesc Fabregas is also from here, as is Xavi Espart, yet another 19-year-old who started as right back for Barcelona in the Clasico. Fabregas, Espart, Cucurella and Yamal come from the coastal strip, Cubarsi from the inland village of Bescano and four generations of carpenters. Pau is better at passing a football than planing a plank of wood. He was originally a youth player with nearby Girona before moving to Barca. In one tournament game for Girona against Manchester United when he was 10 years old, United’s coaches said it was like playing against a one-man team, Cubarsi being that man.
Nine of Spain’s World Cup squad were Catalans. Unlike Cubarsi, who won the award for the World Cup’s best young player, Yamal didn’t have a great World Cup, but he remains the hottest player in world football. When The National asked Barca fans outside Camp Nou who should win the Ballon d’Or, most chose him. The Barcelona winger is the favourite to win, along with England and Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane and then Mbappe. But Spain won the World Cup by conceding only one goal. Their defence was key.
Cucurella, who grew up just a 15-minute drive from Yamal, had the better of his rival on Sunday, who was reduced to skewing a shot wide before half-time and again in the 78th minute. It was not Yamal’s night, despite Barca having 62 per cent possession and 12 shots to Madrid’s five. Yet it was Madrid who created the better chances.
Cucurella was a young professional with Barca and a regular with the B team, but he never played a first-team game. Home fans sang songs about him, casting him as the pantomime villain, and howled at his heavy challenges on Yamal. But they were silenced when he released Yan Diomande, who crossed for Mbappe to capitalise on a Gerard Martin error and put Madrid ahead.
La Liga had seemed predictable before the Clasico and some Madrid fans had even written their team off. With only three points separating the top three, it’s now a real title race.
“The world that loves football will have stopped to watch this and they won’t have gone disappointed; this was two teams that played to win,” said the victorious Mourinho, back at Madrid following 13 years.
Madrid’s win was a surprise, but a deserved one. Will there be another one in London for the Ballon d’Or? It has been framed as a race between Yamal and Kane, but Mbappe’s two goals in the biggest game in the world on the eve of the awards make him the man of the moment.