{"id":4875,"date":"2026-10-26T08:08:06","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T08:08:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/?p=4875"},"modified":"2026-10-26T08:08:06","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T08:08:06","slug":"mourinhos-tactical-gamble-pays-off-as-real-madrid-beat-barcelona-in-el-clasico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/26\/mourinhos-tactical-gamble-pays-off-as-real-madrid-beat-barcelona-in-el-clasico\/sports\/","title":{"rendered":"Mourinho\u2019s tactical gamble pays off as Real Madrid beat Barcelona in El Cl\u00e1sico"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Jos\u00e9 Mourinho\u2019s decision to use fresh midfielders to exploit space behind Barcelona\u2019s defence helped Real Madrid secure a 2-1 victory at Camp Nou on Sunday, ending the hosts\u2019 winning start to the La Liga season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 scored twice, including an 87th-minute winner, as Madrid claimed their first El Cl\u00e1sico victory of the campaign and cut Barcelona\u2019s lead at the top of the table to three points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mourinho said his team had remained organised and composed even after Barcelona equalised, praising the players for executing their game plan against a side that had won its first nine league matches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was the most difficult match, against the highest-quality opponent,\u201d he told reporters after the game. \u201cFor us, this is the best-earned win.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Portuguese coach\u2019s substitutions proved decisive late in the match. Eduardo Camavinga, introduced in the 80th minute, helped launch the move that produced the winning goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mourinho explained that midfielders could exploit gaps more effectively than forwards against Barcelona\u2019s high defensive line, which is trained to catch attackers offside or allow the goalkeeper to intercept passes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith Camavinga, as he did for the goal, and Bellingham, as he did in that two-on-one situation, it\u2019s much harder for the opponent,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Madrid had taken the lead in the 41st minute when Mbapp\u00e9 scored after Yan Diomande\u2019s cross deflected off Barcelona defender Gerard Mart\u00edn. Barcelona responded in the 61st minute, with Raphinha finishing after a pass from Pedri.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hosts pressed for a winner, but Madrid remained dangerous on the counterattack. After a turnover involving Barcelona substitute Gabriel Jesus, Camavinga broke forward and squared the ball for Mbapp\u00e9 to score.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Goalkeeper Andriy Lunin also made important saves, including a stop to deny Gerard Mart\u00edn\u2019s header in the second half.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mourinho praised Lunin\u2019s performance, joking that reporters would have questioned him about the goalkeeper had Madrid lost because of his mistakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also singled out midfielder Federico Valverde, who played for more than 40 minutes despite an injury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe got injured, wanted to continue, pushed himself to his limits, and gave everything while he was on the field,\u201d Mourinho said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The coach criticised the video assistant referee over a challenge by Barcelona defender Jo\u00e3o Cancelo on Diomande around the 60th minute, arguing that the incident warranted a red card.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the victory, Mourinho warned his players against becoming complacent, stressing that Madrid\u2019s ambition extended beyond winning at Barcelona\u2019s home ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cReal Madrid doesn\u2019t play to win at Camp Nou. Real Madrid plays to win championships,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barcelona remain top of La Liga with 27 points from 10 matches, one point ahead of Atl\u00e9tico Madrid. Real Madrid are third with 24 points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The defeat ended Barcelona\u2019s nine-match winning start in the league and came days after a 4-2 loss to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League. Barcelona coach Hansi Flick cited fatigue following a demanding run of matches and travel but said he would not use it as an excuse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jos\u00e9 Mourinho\u2019s decision to use fresh midfielders to exploit space behind Barcelona\u2019s defence helped Real Madrid secure a 2-1 victory at Camp Nou on Sunday, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4876,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,36,27,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current_affairs","category-international","category-sports","category-top_stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4875"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4875\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4877,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4875\/revisions\/4877"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}