BARCELONA: Kylian Mbappe said reaching a milestone 100 goals for Real Madrid during the 2-1 Clasico win over Barcelona in La Liga on Sunday was “just a detail” compared to the team’s victory.

The French forward hit a brace to bring up his century for Los Blancos acr­oss all competitions since joining in 2024.

Mbappe’s double, either side of a Raphinha strike for the hosts at Camp Nou, brought third-place Real Madrid within three points of the La Liga leaders and reigning Spanish champions.

“I’m very happy, I think everyone knows I like to score goals, I like to help the team with that, but I think today it’s just a detail, because... the most important thing is the team’s win,” Mbappe told Real Madrid TV.

“Honestly, the real star of the game today is the team, the group, because we knew we had to play a big game, a team game...

“We know that in the end it was a great game, but it still only counts as three points, and we need to pick up a lot of points to win La Liga.”

Jose Mourinho’s Real have now won five matches in a row and seem to be coming into strong form.

“It doesn’t mean anything, we have to continue, because five games for us is nothing, we want to win every game,” added Mbappe, 27.

“[Winning] is a good message today, but we can’t think the season is done — next week [at Racing] Santander we have to put in the same intensity.”

Mourinho echoed Mbappe’s statement.

“If we win today but lose at El Sardinero, it counts for nothing, because Real Madrid isn’t playing to win at the Camp Nou,” Mourinho said. “They’re playing to win the championship.”

A win in the first Clasico of his second spell suggests Mourinho’s Real can challenge Barcelona’s recent La Liga dominance in his first season back in Spain.

“The lads played an extraordinary match,” said Mourinho in his press conference afterwards.

“Very organised, focused, and showing the courage to play the ball out from the back against an opponent that applied a lot of pressure.”

Time and again, Mourinho’s side moved the ball with urgency and precision in their own half to escape Barcelona’s pressing.

Fede Valverde was praised for playing through injury by Mourinho, but above all he embodied the presence of mind to identify where the space was whenever the ball was turned over.

Barca had won six of the seven previous Clasicos since Flick arrived but were surprisingly subdued against Mourinho’s side.

“You saw today, we lacked freshness,” said Barca coach Hansi Flick of his team’s performance. “It’s the first defeat in La Liga, we won nine in a row. This is what we have to see.

“Defeats are a part of the game. We have to analyse, we have to make things better. Now it’s important that we make a reaction.”

Published in Dawn, October 27th, 2026