MADRID: Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho celebrated Kylian Mbappe's late winner at Barcelona on Sunday with a trademark knee slide, maintaining his unbeaten touch over the club's bitter rivals.
Mourinho became just the third Real Madrid coach to go six El Clasicos in a row without defeat — 13 years after he last led Los Blancos in the fixture.
Four wins and two draws in his past six matches in charge against Barcelona put him alongside Miguel Munoz (1962-65) and Vicente del Bosque (2001-03) as Real managers who have gone six straight without a loss to the old enemy.
It was also just a second victory in eight games against Barcelona for Real, with Mourinho's return to the fixture haunting the reigning champions.
More importantly for Mourinho, Mbappe's double in Real's 2-1 win ended Barcelona's nine-game unbeaten domestic run with a crucial Clasico victory at Camp Nou.
A Real defeat would have allowed Barcelona to establish a commanding nine-point advantage, but the result transformed the top of La Liga, bringing Mourinho's side within three points of its rival.
"In my view, Real Madrid do not play to win at the Camp Nou, Real Madrid play to win La Liga," Mourinho said.
"We could win with luck, but we won with calmness and with all merit," he said. "It's a very strong group. Everyone works very hard. Everyone was ready to win.
"The credit goes to the players. When you win, the credit goes to the players. But when you lose, the blame falls on you. And that's why we see coaches being sacked from their positions every week."
The Portuguese coach, who returned to Real this summer 13 years after his first stint in charge, has now won six and lost six El Clasicos.
"I've learned that I have an extraordinary group, with the quality and mindset to play," he said.
"In midfield, having a mix of talents gives us more than just having two players with similar characteristics. This mix of talents gives us balance when defending and quality when we go on the attack.
"We've beaten several teams by four or more goals, but this is Barca, and the players put on a great performance. We need to continue like this and don't go over the moon after this win."
Barcelona coach Hansi Flick said he didn't want to give excuses for the defeat but admitted his team lacked fresh legs after a demanding few weeks.
"We missed the freshness," he said. "It's not easy for our players. We have to recover well, train well and we have to respond from this defeat.
"In big games, small things are important and they decide the games and today, it wasn't on our side.
"I can see that today we were not fresh and this is what we have to change."
