Barcelona slump to first La Liga defeat as Real Madrid win El Clasico 2-1 at Camp Nou

Barcelona suffered their first league defeat of the 2026/27 campaign on Sunday night, losing 2-1 to Real Madrid in El Clasico at Camp Nou. The result is a second consecutive reverse for Hansi Flick's side, who were beaten by PSG in the Champions League in midweek.

Barcelona players during El Clasico against Real Madrid at Camp Nou

Raphinha's strike was not enough to rescue a point for the La Liga leaders, who were second best for long spells against a clinical Madrid side on a bad night for Flick's team.

Defence

Joan Garcia - 6.5: Was solid all game with excellent sweeper-keeping, but made a costly mistake by unnecessarily charging down Eduardo Camavinga at a tight angle, leading to Madrid's second goal.

Joao Cancelo - 5: His defensive frailties showed again as he left plenty of open space for the opposition wingers and contributed next to nothing going forward.

Gerard Martin - 2.5: A rating that reflected a performance the report described bluntly as “simply not a Barca-quality performance.” He misplaced far too many passes, was very shaky defensively and produced a terrible clearance that led to the Real Madrid opener. He redeemed himself slightly with a successful 2v1 defence against Jude Bellingham and Kylian Mbappe, but still failed to score a wide-open header that would have made it 2-1.

Pau Cubarsi - 7: One of the few players to have a good game, covering huge ground to halt attacks – including a last-ditch tackle on Mbappe – in a largely mistake-free display.

Xavi Espart - 7: Looked really good in his limited time before being forced off with an injury, blocking Wilfried Singo (Diomande) well and linking up with Lamine Yamal. The report expressed hope that the youngster is fit.

Midfield

Pedri - 6: Extremely disappointing in the first half with several poor passes, but redeemed himself a little after the break with a more assured display and a nice disguised assist.

Rodri - 4: Provided no control whatsoever and barely tracked Bellingham, fading from view for long periods. In his defence, he was repeatedly fouled without any punishment from the officials.

Fermin Lopez - 6.5: Largely did well, worked hard and produced a few good cross-field passes, but with no tangible output in attack.

Attack

Anthony Gordon - 5: Industrious as usual and winning plenty of turnovers high up the pitch, but his final-third decision-making was baffling – he almost never picked the right pass or shot after winning the ball back.

Raphinha - 6: Scored a good goal and pressed relentlessly, but tracked back far less than usual and looked a shadow of his normal dynamic self.

Lamine Yamal - 5: Too selfish, rarely releasing the ball when attacking and trying to be the hero alone, while his usual magical dribbling proved ineffective. Worth noting that Marc Cucurella again escaped multiple card-worthy fouls on him, though Yamal did produce one nice attempted assist that Raphinha could not quite connect with.

Substitutes and manager

Alejandro Balde - 7: Brought on early for Espart out of necessity, he still needs to refine his final ball but was far better than Cancelo on the night, running tirelessly and locking Arda Guler down for most of the game, almost setting up Frenkie de Jong late on.

Frenkie de Jong - 6: Close to scoring on his return to the side, he provided far more control than the starting midfield but looked rusty and committed a few unnecessary fouls.

Karim Adeyemi - 5: Ran at Denzel Dumfries repeatedly but achieved little beyond one over-hit cross.

Gabriel Jesus - 4: Almost no involvement at all except for the giveaway on Madrid's winning goal.

Hansi Flick - 4: His hand was largely forced while picking the starting XI due to the defensive injury crisis, but the team looked bereft of ideas and a method, there was just route-one hoofball instead of the usual efficient and smooth passing. He also waited far too long to make substitutions, by which point the starters were exhausted and the replacements had no time to influence the game.