Kylian Mbappe has already achieved something that Cristiano Ronaldo never managed across his nine legendary years at Real Madrid — an open-play El Clasico goal at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Real Madrid’s new Galactico opened the scoring in the 22nd minute of the 2025-26 season’s first Clasico, slotting home after a pinpoint through ball from Jude Bellingham. The goal came after an early spell of drama that saw a penalty for Vinicius Junior overturned and an earlier Mbappe strike ruled out by VAR for offside.
Incredibly, that opener marked a milestone even Ronaldo couldn’t claim. Despite his 450 goals in 438 appearances for Real Madrid, and 18 El Clasico strikes, none of the Portuguese icon’s goals against Barcelona at the Bernabeu in La Liga came from open play — all three were penalties.
During his nine seasons in Spain, Ronaldo featured in nine home league Clasicos, starting eight and playing 753 of a possible 810 minutes. Across those games, he scored three times (all from the spot) and provided no assists. In contrast, Lionel Messi managed nine goals and three assists in the same fixtures.
Mbappe, who endured a frustrating 4-0 defeat in his first Clasico last season with two goals ruled out for offside, made his mark this time around. Though he later missed a penalty against Wojciech Szczesny, the Frenchman’s first goal in the iconic rivalry has already etched his name into Real Madrid folklore.
While it’s still early days in Mbappe’s Real Madrid career, this rare quirk — scoring a non-penalty home goal against Barcelona — puts him in a unique bracket that even Ronaldo never entered.
