5 Outtakes from the El Clasico

The El Clasico is behind us. Barcelona triumphed over Real Madrid in an emphatic 5-1 victory. Luis Suarez claimed the match ball after a wonderful hat-trick, he was helped by Arturo Vidal and Philipe Coutinho who scored one each.

Real Madrid's only goal came from Marcelo early in the second half. This was the first El Clasico without either Leo Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo since 2007 and we saw conclusive proof that a Messi less Barcelona is better than a Ronaldo less Real Madrid.

As with every game, several observations were made during the 90 minutes of play. Many players proved their worth, while some clearly were struggling to find their groove. Let us look at five major observations from the Clasico.

#5 Two of the best left backs in the world

Among all the player rivalries among Barcelona and Real Madrid, one rivalry that goes overlooked is between Jordi Alba and Marcelo. The two left backs are among two of the best in their positions. They proved their worth throughout the game, especially Marcelo who is easily the best left back in the world at this moment.

Alba started the game strong as he darted down the left side with furious intent. He assisted Coutinho for the opening goal of the match after Coutinho burst into the relatively empty Real Madrid box. Alba was instrumental in the second goal as well as he found Suarez with a wonderful cross. This cross led to Varane giving away a penalty and Barca going 2-0 up.

Marcelo had shown flashes of brilliance in the first half but it was in the second half that he came to life. He was easily Madrid's most threatening player on the pitch and he got himself a goal as well after finding a rebound in the box and scoring with his weaker right foot. Real Madrid had switched to a more attacking formation in the 2nd half allowing Marcelo to go higher up the pitch. His impact was felt when he was forced off due to an injury and Real Madrid's midfield completely collapsed after this.

#4 Luis Suarez found his shooting boots

Luis Suarez had last scored a hat-trick on 20th August 2016 when he netted three past Real Betis in a 6-2 victory at the Camp Nou. It took him over two years to score another hat-trick in La Liga and Barcelona fans are glad he did.

Suarez has been one of the more criticized Barca players over the last few games as he had rarely scored. While Leo Messi did most of the heavy lifting for Barca, Suarez had struggled to find the net.

The Clasico finally changed Suarez's fortune as he netted three goals to complete a hat-trick. Achieving such a unique feat which is shared among a few elite players is amazing and this should provide a much-needed boost to Suarez's confidence. Hopefully the Uruguayan will stick to his goal scoring form and continue to tally up goals for the Catalan side.

#3 Real Madrid's lackluster midfield lost them the game.

Real Madrid had several flaws in their game. Their players weren't pressing that much, they weren't passing the ball around properly among many other things. But their biggest problem was the fact that they failed massively in controlling the midfield. Their midfield trio of Kroos, Casemiro and Modric were all very lackluster. None of them showed any special form during the game and looked slow and sluggish during the entire game.

Modric who was playing on the left side of midfield failed to cover Jordi Alba's overlaps several times as he shot through again and again down the left flank. Casemiro was later moved to the defense after Lopetegui changed formation at halftime. Finally, Kroos was barely seen throughout the entire game and failed to make any kind of impact on the game.

After Madrid made several positive moves in the early stages of the second half Marcelo was forced off due to an unfortunate injury. As soon as Marcelo's offense and creativity was gone, the Madrid midfield again went stationary and lackluster.

#2 Lopetegui's brief change almost won them the game.

After going 2-0 down at halftime, Real Madrid came into the second half firing on all cylinders. They pressed higher up the pitch and didn't even let Barca out of their own half for a few minutes. Lopetegui even managed to completely shut down Sergio Busquets which almost no team has been able to do over the years. He shut down the entire Barcelona midfield in such a way we didn't see them string more than four passes together at a time.

This new rejuvenated Real Madrid quickly scored a goal and looked set to equalize. Marcelo's injury however, stopped all momentum they had and Barcelona started dominating again. If Lopetegui kept instigating his players to play in such a positive manner then maybe they would have won the entire match. But Lopetegui's team played the match in a very passive formation where players saw much less of the ball than Barcelona.

#1 Lopetegui is living on borrowed time

There isn't much doubt left. Lopetegui's is on borrowed time. The Real Madrid boss has lost six out of his first 14 competitive games. In comparison, Zinedine Zidane took over 70 games to lose 6. The manager has been under fire from fans and critics alike. The former Spanish International Manager has gone off to a horrendous start to his Real Madrid career due to the poor results and this match seems to have sealed his fate.

It should be obvious now that the coach's time is up. It should just be a matter of time till Perez asks Lopetegui to leave. Some replacements rumored are Arsene Wenger, Antonio Conte and Laurent Blanc. The body language of the Real Madrid players and staff lack self-esteem and confidence. It does seem like all players and staff have lost their trust in the Manager although a few players did back him up in the post-match press conference.

Will Lopetegui head for the exit? Or will he stay? Only time will tell.