Barcelona stuns Madrid in title race

Hundreds of Barcelona supporters celebrated Sunday at Las Ramblas as their team rallied to beat Real Madrid 4-3 despite Kylian Mbappé hat trick to move closer to La Liga title Sunday. Barcelona took a huge step to securing the Spanish league title with a 4-3 win over second-placed rival in a mesmerizing “Clasico” and opened a seven-point lead with three matches remaining.

Raphinha scored twice, and Lamine Yamal and Eric García added a goal each for Barcelona, which trailed 2-0 after Mbappé scored in the fifth and 14th minutes at Montjuic stadium. The hosts evened the match just over the half-hour mark, and went on to lead 4-2 at halftime in a sensational recovery. Mbappé completed his hat trick in the 70th but Madrid wasn’t able to come back in a likely fatal blow to its hopes of successfully defending its title.

Mbappé became the league’s leading scorer with 27 goals, two more than Barcelona’s Robert Lewandowski, who did not start on Sunday. The Catalan club has won every match against Madrid this season. It had already won 4-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in the first league match in October, 5-2 in the Spanish Super Cup final in January, and 3-2 in the Copa del Rey final last month.

The result, which virtually ends Madrid’s hopes of finishing the season with a title, adds pressure on coach Carlo Ancelotti, who is rumored to be leaving the club to take over Brazi’s national team. Former Madrid player Xabi Alonso, who recently announced he is leaving Bayern Leverkusen is widely expected to be Madrid’s next coach.