The 72 hours (and Lamine Yamal's words) that silently warmed up the Madrid locker room: "Talk is cheap."

"This victory is important because of the conviction that we can win big matches ." Xabi Alonso 's smile was evident in the corridors of the Santiago Bernabéu . As evident as Real Madrid 's need to win a match of this caliber after the defeats against Arsenal , Barcelona and PSG last season and the 5-2 defeat they suffered in the Madrid derby at the Metropolitano a few weeks ago.

The 2-1 at Chamartín came after 72 hours of listening to and reading the words of Lamine Yamal , who warmed up the classic on Thursday night in a chat about the Kings League , Gerard Piqué 's streamer league in which the Barcelona forward is the president of one of the clubs. " Yes, they steal and complain ," Yamal replied, when asked if Ibai Llanos ' team, 'Porcinos FC', was "like Madrid." "The last time I went to the Bernabéu... How much? 0-4," the Rocafonca native repeated in that conversation.

That comment went viral and quickly reached the Real Madrid locker room's WhatsApp , where the team repeated it during training on Friday and Saturday, though they maintained a forced silence. The order was to avoid responding before the match and to focus all their efforts, anger, and desire on the 90 minutes of the Clásico. Xabi Alonso himself declined to comment on the Barça star's statements, insisting in the pre-match press conference that " I'm not going to get involved ." "There are statements from many people in Barcelona, ​​and I can't analyze them all," he said.

Madrid had their four Clásicos losses last season on their minds, two of them in the Super Cup and Copa del Rey finals, and the message was clear: " Silence until the match ." There was no public response, nor indirect messages on social media. Just silence.

Perhaps that's how it all came to a head after seven months without beating a team from Europe's top elite , four lost Clásicos, and Lamine's words, that contained rage from the Real Madrid squad.

Well, it all really exploded after Pedri 's sending-off, deep into injury time, when Madrid understood they had won the match. The players on the Real Madrid bench celebrated the Canary Island midfielder's red card as if it were the final whistle, and both sets of substitutes engaged in the first brawl of the night, with Vinicius, Lunin, Ferran, and Fermin taking center stage, while Raphinha and Rüdiger , injured and not in the squad, appeared on the pitch to separate them.

The Ukrainian goalkeeper was sent off, and Vinicius, Rodrygo, Militao, Fermín, Ferran, and Balde received yellow cards. A few minutes later, at the end of the match, Real Madrid responded to Lamine's remarks. Restrained anger.

The fight

Carvajal , captain of the Real Madrid and Yamal's teammate in the national team, crossed paths with the Barça player at the end of the match and made a gesture with his hand, as if to say, " You've talked too much ." Lamine, on his way to the locker room, responded by challenging him to go to the tunnel. Courtois then ran up to reprimand the young striker, and a general brawl broke out. Vinicius, walking towards the tunnel, repeated "You talk too much" to Yamal, while Yamal also told him to go to the locker room.

" I like it . If Lamine wants to talk, there's no problem. The game is played on the pitch, and we won. I like it; it helps us compete," said Tchouaméni a few minutes later, already in the mixed zone at the Bernabéu. On Instagram, the Frenchman posted a video saying, " I guess this is what you all wanted to see , eh?"

"I don't know if it's a consequence of one thing or another," said Xabi Alonso regarding Lamine's words and his players' reaction at the end. " It was the tension of the moment ; these arguments and brawls have always happened. There's no need to panic," he insisted.

But on social media, his players went from forced silence to ecstasy. "Talk is cheap," wrote Jude Bellingham , scorer of the second and decisive goal of the match. "This is Madrid and the Bernabéu," Carreras posted.

" I don't know if I was overly motivated, but the team was very motivated ," Alonso insisted to the media. "We talked about it beforehand, that the game was important, to see where we were coming from and what a win would mean. They needed that feeling of a big match, and their motivation was high," explained the Tolosan player.