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Barcelona wallop Real Madrid in El Clásico

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Barcelona will finish Matchday 11 with a six-point lead at the top of the La Liga standings thanks to a spectacular 4-0 victory over Real Madrid in El Clásico at the Santiago Bernabéu on Saturday night in the Spanish capital.

After struggling in the first half the Catalans came alive and absolutely dominated the final period, and took all three points to finish the biggest week of their season so far in emphatic fashion.

FIRST HALF

The opening period did not feature the most aesthetically pleasing football we’ve ever seen, with both sides struggling to play through midfield and mostly resorting to long balls from back to front to try and create chances.

Madrid looked to get the ball to Kylian Mbappé and Vinicius Jr. as quickly as possible, bypassing Barça’s high press with long passes from the back and diagonal balls from one side to another to try and catch the Catalans’ backline out of position.

Because of Real’s gameplan the story of the half became Barça’s offside trap: the Blaugrana had one near scare after another at the back, with Vinicius, Mbappé and Jude Bellingham all having “almost” big chances that were denied by either the offside flag or, in the case of a nice Mbappé finish that went into the net, the semi-automated VAR system.

Despite the good work of their defensive high line Barça were not at their best when they had the ball, starting with Iñaki Peña making several poor passes at the back and the front players having only a couple of half-chances on shots from distance and crosses into the box that didn’t come close to troubling goalkeeper Andriy Lunin.

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Lamine Yamal and Raphinha were not as precise in the final third, and Robert Lewandowski barely saw any of the ball.

The midfield also struggled Marc Casadó mostly ran around trying to cover distance, and both Pedri and Fermín López were lacking in the creative department.

The halftime whistle came to end a first half without any goals and lacking in quality by both sides, and Barça needed to find a way to play a lot better to create enough opportunities to win the game.

SECOND HALF

Hansi Flick made his first substitution at halftime, with captain Frenkie de Jong replacing Fermín López looking to add more control and passing quality to Barça’s midfield.

The Dutchman had an immediate impact, taking ownership of the ball and moving it between the lines to help the visitors finally have extended periods of possession.

Barça’s press also worked better and led to a few mistakes by the Madrid backline, and the Blaugrana quickly became the superior side in the first 10 minutes.

And in a span of 90 seconds they found themselves up by two goals: an amazing assist by Casadó gave Lewandowski a one-on-one with Lunin that he couldn’t miss, and the Pole scored his second with a perfect header after a glorious cross by Alejandro Balde.

Madrid naturally went forward looking for a quick response, and Mbappé had a giant chance shortly after the hour mark but was denied by a brilliant one-on-one save from Peña.

The hosts left themselves wide open to Barça counter-attacks, and Lewandowski somehow missed two of the easiest chances you’ll ever see to complete his hat-trick before we even reached the final 20 minutes.

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Chaos reigned supreme as Madrid looked to ignite their comeback and Barça struggled to maintain control of the ball and looked too eager to go on the counter, but De Jong once again took charge of possession to help his team breathe for at least a couple of minutes.

Los Blancos became more desperate and more open as we got closer to the end, and they were made to pay as Barça finally delivered the knockout punch: Raphinha found Lamine Yamal inside the box and the teenager used his weaker right foot to fire a rocket into the roof of the net and triple the Blaugrana advantage with 15 minutes to go.

Barça were not done yet, and it was time for Raphinha to join the scoring party as the Brazilian received a long pass from Iñigo Martínez and lobbed the ball over Lunin to put the icing on the cake.

The final whistle came to give Barça all three points after a sensational night at the Bernabéu, with a win for the ages and a truly remarkable second half performance.

The biggest win of the season so far is over, and all the questions have been answered as emphatically as possible.


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