Kylian Mbappe and Jose Mourinho expose Barcelona's issue in El Clasico plus other big stories in the Euro Debrief

Welcome to The Euro Debrief, the Sky Sports column in which Adam Bate rounds up some of the key stories from the latest matches across the continent. This week:

Mbappe exposes Barca
All set for Der Klassiker
Another Inter comeback
Archer again for Auxerre
Tolu unstoppable for Ajax

LaLiga: Mbappe exposes Barca

After nine consecutive wins to start the season in LaLiga, Barcelona were beaten by the team they wanted to be beaten by least – losing El Clasico 2-1 to Real Madrid at Spotify Camp Nou. Kylian Mbappe scored both for Jose Mourinho’s side. Do Barca have a problem?

It might seem strange to say so given their extraordinary start to the season, playing some thrilling football under Hansi Flick. But their targets are sky high this season and Champions League glory will depend on what they do against the strongest opponents.

Following their 4-2 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in which goalkeeper Joan Garcia did well to restrict the French side to four, Barcelona could not find a way to stop Madrid from cutting through either. Mourinho even outlined exactly how they managed to do it.

“It is difficult for any attackers to attack space against Barcelona, the only solution is to do it with your midfielders,” he explained afterwards. “The solution is to use midfielders like [Eduardo] Camavinga and [Jude] Bellingham to break that line and it worked.”

In his first Clasico match against Flick’s Barca, Mbappe was caught offside seven times by their high line, the most by any player in a major European league in six years. This time, Mbappe was there to win the game when Camavinga burst from deep beyond him.

Barcelona remain well placed at the top of the table and will devastate most teams. But if Flick wants the Champions League, he needs to win the big games. Inter and Atletico have dumped them out of Europe in the past two seasons. This week was a big warning.

LaLiga: Table | Fixtures & results

Julian Alvarez, a target for Barca in the summer and a scorer against them in that Champions League quarter-final last season, is busy building bridges in the capital instead. Fresh from scoring his first goal of the season in midweek, he bagged the winner on Saturday.

The Argentine scored the only goal at home to Deportivo A Coruna and apologised to supporters for those comments about making a ‘dream’ transfer. Diego Simeone praised him for his contrition and Atletico are now just two points behind Barca in second.

Elsewhere, Valencia’s misery continued as they lost the derby to Villarreal following a nightmare cameo from Harvey Elliott. The Englishman came on as a late substitute, was sent off for dissent and then saw Georges Mikautadze score a stoppage-time winner.

LaLiga results: Alaves 1-1 Malaga, Rayo Vallecano 0-3 Elche, Racing Santander 2-1 Espanyol, Valencia 1-2 Villarreal, Atletico Madrid 1-0 Deportivo A Coruna, Athletic Club 4-0 Getafe, Celta Vigo 0-0 Real Betis, Real Sociedad 2-1 Levante, Barcelona 1-2 Real Madrid.

Bundesliga: All set for Der Klassiker

It has been a difficult time for Bayern Munich off the field with head coach Vincent Kompany hospitalised with a viral infection and captain Joshua Kimmich on compassionate leave following the passing of his father. There are bigger issues than football.

But they came through a tricky fixture away to Freiburg, who had won all five of their previous home games this season. The victory means Bayern remain top of the table in Germany, level on points with Borussia Dortmund ahead of Der Klassiker next weekend.

It needed a brilliant Maxi Beier goal late on for Dortmund to secure their 1-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt and keep pace with their rivals. But it was not so positive for Bayer Leverkusen, who lost ground after being undone late on in a 3-0 defeat at Hoffenheim.

Andrej Kramaric scored the first with his 18th consecutive penalty conversion in the Bundesliga. Patrik Schick, for once, could not respond, failing to score for the first time in a Bundesliga game this season. The competition’s top scorer so far? Niclas Fullkrug.

The Werder Bremen favourite bagged both of his goals from the spot in a 3-2 win at Mainz to move clear of Schick at the top of the scoring charts with eight. West Ham and AC Milan supporters might be surprised by such form but they love him back in Bremen.

Elsewhere, RB Leipzig put four past Elversberg, while Rayan Philippe scored an 88th-minute winner for Paderborn against parent-club Hamburg. And a word for Borussia Monchengladbach, winners at Stuttgart after losing their first six games of the season.

Bundesliga results: Stuttgart 2-3 Borussia Monchengladbach, Augsburg 1-1 Union Berlin, Cologne 0-0 Schalke, Mainz 2-3 Werder Bremen, Paderborn 1-0 Hamburg, RB Leipzig 4-0 Elversberg, Borussia Dortmund 1-0 Eintracht Frankfurt, Hoffenheim 3-0 Bayer Leverkusen, Freiburg 1-3 Bayern Munich.

Serie A: Yet another Inter comeback

How many more times can Inter do this? Earlier this season, they fell two goals behind in three consecutive games and still picked up seven points from those matches. Last week, they conceded first to Bologna and still won. But this was the most stunning yet.

Fiorentina led the game going into stoppage-time but Inter still won at San Siro. Marcus Thuram equalised in the 91st minute and earned the penalty that Piotr Zielinksi scored to win it in the 98th minute. Thirteen points gained from losing positions already for Inter.

It is Lazio who continue to be the story of the season in Italy as they produced one of their more convincing wins over Parma. They registered their highest possession total so far and, unlike in three of their previous wins, had the higher expected-goals total too.

Gennaro Gattuso’s side remain level on points with Inter, with an identical record but Roma and Milan both retained their unbeaten status too. For Milan, it was routine as Ruben Amorim’s side bounced back from defeat to Bournemouth away to Udinese.

Not so for Gian Piero Gasperini’s Roma, who came from two down to earn a 3-3 draw in a thriller away to Napoli. For the second time in a week, Scott McTominay scored twice for the hosts but an unlikely brace of his own from Leonardo Balerdi snatched a point.

Elsewhere, as many as eight goals were shared between Atalanta and a fun Frosinone side that are confounding expectations up in sixth. Juventus rediscovered a bit of form at Lecce, while Como followed up their Manchester United win by seeing off Sassuolo.

Serie A results: Torino 3-2 Monza, Cagliari 0-2 Bologna, Como 2-0 Sassuolo, Napoli 3-3 Roma, Lazio 2-1 Parma, Inter 2-1 Fiorentina, Atalanta 4-4 Frosinone, Genoa 1-0 Venezia, Lecce 0-2 Juventus, Udinese 0-2 Milan.

Ligue 1: Archer again for Auxerre

With reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain hosting Lyon – the leaders going into the weekend – on Monday, there was a chance for others to press their claim at the top. Monaco and Lille could only share the points and Paris FC were beaten away to Lens.

As a result, it was Rennes who moved clear from that pack of six teams level on 14 points with a 3-0 win over Strasbourg. Sebastian Szymanski’s first was good – a smart, first-time finish. But his second, a curled effort from outside the box, was outrageous.

Further down the table, there were goals for two Englishmen in France worthy of a mention. CJ Egan-Riley scored his first goal for Marseille since joining on a free transfer from Burnley in the summer of last year. It was the first in a 4-3 win at home to Le Havre.

But the big sensation in Ligue 1 right now is Cameron Archer who scored his fifth goal in six appearances for Auxerre, the equaliser in their 1-1 draw over Le Mans. The on-loan Southampton striker has long had promise but he is exceeding expectations right now.

When it comes to non-penalty goals in Ligue 1, he is out on his own at the top of the scoring charts with that total of five. PSG forward Ferran Torres, Monaco’s Paris Brunner and Marseille’s Amine Gouiri are the only other players to have registered four so far. Impressive.

Ligue 1 results: Brest 1-2 Nice, Lens 2-1 Paris FC, Monaco 1-1 Lille, Angers 0-0 Lorient, Auxerre 1-1 Le Mans, Marseille 4-3 Le Havre, Rennes 3-0 Strasbourg, Toulouse 0-0 Troyes.

Elsewhere: Tolu unstoppable at Ajax

Portuguese football returned and with it normal service for Porto. They remain perfect at the top of the table with nine wins from nine now, although Francesco Farioli is still facing murmurs of discontent after three defeats from three in the Champions League.

That is nothing compared to the frustration at Braga. They dispensed with head coach Carlos Vicens at the start of the week but their struggles continued as they returned from Madeira pointless following a 1-0 defeat to Nacional. Benfica play on Monday.

The big game in the Netherlands was drawn but Feyenoord will be the happier of the two with the point away to PSV that keeps them four clear of the reigning Eredivisie champions. Meanwhile, Twente won at AZ Alkmaar to leapfrog them into fourth spot.

But the big winners were Ajax who followed up their win over Atalanta in Europe with a 2-1 triumph at Sparta Rotterdam in which Tolu Arokodare slotted home the second. The Nigerian has nine goals in his last 11 games for Ajax. Eredivisie defences cannot cope.

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