Thirteen years later, José Mourinho led Real Madrid into the Camp Nou, and he led them out again with a late, late victory that opens up a whole new world. With three minutes remaining and the energy with which they had played dropping, a wonderful piece of skill from Jude Bellingham found Eduardo Camavinga and set them on one last run on a night in which there were so many of them. Camavinga sprinted into the area, slipped away from Pau Cubarsí and pulled the ball back for Kylian Mbappé to provide the finish.

It had been an intense, breathless ride, a proper battle, and Madrid had won it, Mbappé getting his second goal of a special match to end Barcelona’s record nine-game winning run. So much for a battering, so much for Barcelona going nine points clear, the title race run before November; there is life in Madrid and in this league. Life in their manager too; this was planned and executed to perfection, and not the way that might have been expected.

To begin with the ball was all ­Barcelona’s but no sooner had they lost it than the first shot was Madrid’s, Pedri’s startlingly loose pass allowing Arda Guler to dash forward on the right and fire over on four minutes. That felt like a marker, a pattern set: a portrait of the way that both teams would play. So too did the way that Marc Cucurella and Lamine Yamal were already facing each other, the Madrid full-back seeking a way under the winger’s skin. And, in fact, the moment Guler was caught offside – right by the halfway line, Barcelona squeezing high, living on the edge.

The impression was deceptive, Madrid ready to step on to the front foot and apply a pressure, an intensity with which Barcelona were not comfortable, Pedri and Rodri unable to fully settle. Madrid were ready to run too, with Fede Valverde opening the pitch with long diagonals. From one, Mbappé went dashing up the left towards the area. Although he was held up, the ball was worked to Guler whose shot Joan García scooped away uneasily. This was frantic, and Madrid were finding it to their liking, Mbappé and Yan Diomandé a threat.

Barcelona tried to impose control but could not, not yet. That said, they too enjoy flying into space and from a Pedri run Raphinha shot over. Then Anthony Gordon went bombing through and produced a neat back heel to set up Raphinha for a shot that curled low just past the post. The Brazilian would have another shot wide soon. Before that, though, the intensity claimed its first victim when Xavi Espart was forced off inside thirty minutes. Alejandro Balde, who had played just 15 minutes all season, came on and was immediately faced by Guler, whose gorgeous ball in was volleyed over by Mbappé near the penalty spot.

Back and forth it went, Gordon drawing a sharp save from Andriy Lunin next and the stadium roaring in indignation with each increasingly intense Cucurella challenge on Lamine Yamal.

Then it got worse, silence momentarily falling on 41 minutes. Again Madrid moved it across from right to left, where Cucurella released ­Diomandé, so often the destination. He sprinted forward and pulled a cross back low and hard. Gerard ­Martín got there first but could only hit it against Mbappé and into the net. There was fortune there, but it had been deserved, and when Lamine Yamal had a wonderful chance to level it he wasted the opportunity, scuffing wide at the near post.

Barcelona came back at Madrid in the second half, two superb tackles on the edge of the area from Aurélien Tchouaméni and Bellingham denying shooting opportunities for Raphinha and Pedri respectively. Between those two moments Bellingham had run beyond Cubarsí and clear accompanied by Mbappé but Martín, all alone, managed to cut off the move. Dean Huijsen then stopped Raphinha, just as Ibrahima Konaté had stopped Lamine Yamal.

Madrid’s resistance in and around their area impressed, while the threat into space was always there. ­Barcelona were perhaps guilty of waiting a little long to pull the trigger. Territorially, though, this had tilted and Barcelona were tightening their grip, which did not yet entirely diminish Hansi Flick’s frustration. This was not finished and on the hour Barcelona were level. Lamine Yamal took a corner short to Pedri who slipped a clever angled, reversed ball into Raphinha to strike low into the net.

The noise rose. Raphinha was denied at one end. Joan García saved from Guler at the other. And, ­Barcelona back again, Lunin made as astonishing save from Martín’s header.

Then Mbappé appealed for a handball as Balde scrambled the ball away from him. Barcelona had taken a bit of a grip but it was far from firm, leaving them exposed to every break and leaving the game, the players and then entire place on edge. Mbappé ran at Barcelona, Pedri ran back again, leading a move that concluded with Lamine Yamal’s neat footwork opening up an opportunity to fire just past the post. Lunin celebrated then and again when Huijsen dived in to stop Frenkie de Jong. Huijsen then got his face in the way of a Lamine Yamal shot, laying him out. The chance had been laid on by Gordon.

Barcelona insisted. Madrid, tired now, resisted. But there was still some fight in them, and still some finish too.