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A Messi-less FC Barcelona scored 5 goals past a clueless Real Madrid in the El Clasico. The Blaugrana outfit scored inside 15 minutes of the Clasico through Phillipe Coutinho before Luis Suarez doubled the lead on the half-hour mark. Real Madrid showed character in the second half and got a goal back. But they failed to capitalise on the momentum.
Luis Suarez punished the Los Blancos for their weak defensive play and scored his second of the night in the 75th minute. Suarez and Vidal scored into the dying minutes of the game to the ecstasy of the Camp Nou faithful. Barcelona put an end to their winless run at the Camp Nou against Real Madrid, with their last win dating back to 2015.
The loss has pushed Real Madrid down to the 9th position in the league table, only one point clear of the bottom half. Barcelona, on the other hand, has gone on top of the table, two points clear of Real Madrid.
#5 Barcelona started on the front foot and capitalised on the early momentum
From the moment that Arthur got the possession back in the first minute, Barcelona looked ominous. The Camp Nou faithful cheered their team on, as the Blaugrana saw much of the possession. Barcelona’s build-up play was hardly pressurized by the Los Blancos.
Real Madrid resorted to playing long forward balls towards Bale and Benzema but it didn’t cause many problems to the defence. Marc Andre Ter Stegen only had to deal with long-range shots, all of which were hit straight to him.
Barcelona scored two goals in the first half but they missed plenty of chances that could have put the game to bed. It didn’t haunt them thankfully as they sailed to a comfortable victory.
Barcelona decided to start on a high tempo and that made a huge difference in the result.
#4 Barcelona’s midfield outclasses their Madrid counterparts
As mentioned before Barcelona held on to much of the possession in the first half. The team saw almost 70% of possession that saw the midfielders cause all sorts of problems to the defence. Sergio Busquets, Ivan Rakitic and Arthur controlled the ball in the middle of the park. All three of the Barcelona midfielders were pinpoint in picking out the spaces in the defence.
They aimed for Sergi Roberto and Jordi Alba and picked them out successfully on most occasions. While Toni Kroos, Luka Modric and Casemiro tried hard to win the ball, the Barcelona midfielders kept the ball safely with them.
Rakitic and Arthur created a lot of opportunities for Barcelona to score. Arthur bypassing the high press from Madrid and Rakitic playing up the pitch where his influence is a lot more. Busquets always had the better of Isco and Casemiro.
Luka Modric had one chance that came of the upright which was almost everything that he accomplished in the game. Toni Kroos and Luka couldn’t find their lethal build-up play and neither their picture-perfect through balls. Busquets’ first lob pass came courtesy of Madrid midfielders’ weak press on him.
At the end of the day, the midfield battle was won by Barcelona hands down which explains their dominance.
#3 Real Madrid’s defensive problems hit them hard
Taking nothing away from the brilliant performance from Barcelona, the defensive errors from Real Madrid caused almost all the goals in the game. While Lenglet and Pique stood strong at the back with their full-backs pushing high, it was an exact opposite on the other end.
The Real Madrid defence played a high-line and was broken apart on a number of occasions. They were too slow in backtracking towards the goal. Their man-marking was very weak.
Prior to the first goal, Lopetegui shouted instructions at Ramos and Marcelo to get the defensive positions right, seconds later they paid the price. The defence just let Jordi Alba run into all the open space that caused their first goal. A similar scenario happened during the second goal.
The slow reaction of the defence let Alba play a wonderful pass to Suarez. Raphael Varane made a really underwhelming challenge that caused the penalty. The defenders hardly circulated the ball well and gave possession away on far too many occasions. Even Arthur had a lethal attempt at goal.
Real Madrid didn’t hold their lines well and neither did they press well. Sergi Roberto and Jordi Alba caused them all sorts of problems in the flanks. Sergio Ramos was not too good either alongside Varane. Sergi Roberto had no pressure on him while crossing to Suarez, and there was no pressure on Suarez either while he headed it freely. The fourth goal was all thanks to Sergio Ramos’ mistake. The fifth one again was a defensive lapse which saw Vidal head the ball freely.
Towards the end of the game, the Real Madrid defence played like a team defeated which caused them to lose by 5-1 rather than 3-1. The scoreline, as bad as it looks, is simply due to the number of chances missed by Barcelona.
#2 Valverde’s tactics are spot on while Lopetegui struggles again
Ernesto Valverde started with the same team that he started against Inter Milan in the Champions League clash. His starting 11 was spot on as they picked up from where they left off against Inter. It was a bold decision to start with Sergi Roberto and Rafinha, rather than Dembele and Semedo, who have played more minutes this season.
His tactics seemed to pay off as Sergi Roberto was absolutely phenomenal in the game. Sergi had the better of Marcelo on the right wing and caused a lot of trouble for the defense. He was directly involved in Suarez’s second and third goal. Rafinha had an unconvincing performance but he wasn’t bad, he showed moments of brilliance before being taken off.
Valverde’s substitutions killed the game for Real Madrid. He moved Sergi Roberto towards the wing and put Semedo in the right-back position. Sergi played as good as he did at right-back in the new position. Semedo as well was brilliant in his position. Dembele’s introduction in place of Coutinho was a brave move. Valverde took out a star player but he introduced more pace. Dembele was involved in the goal minutes after he came on. He ran all over the tired and desperate Madrid defense in the short period of time, he was on.
Lopetegui on the other hand, made dismal choices. He was right to introduce Lucas Vasquez who played wonderfully towards the start of the first half. However, he took Raphael Varane out thus decreasing the depth at the defensive end. Varane’s absence caused Madrid big time, as he would have helped them deal with high looping balls and fast breaks. He had a bad game in the first half but he still was a key figure to take out.
Other than that, he kept Isco, Bale and Benzema on. The front three hardly caused any problems for Barcelona other than that one goal, which was assisted by Isco. Lopetegui waited till the 77th minute to make his second substitution, by then it was too late for Asensio to make an impact. He showed have thrown caution to the wind and take a gamble. He wasn’t brave enough to substitute the underperforming Isco, Kroos or Modric.
It seems imminent that Lopetegui will be sacked now.
#1 Barcelona make a statement without Lionel Messi
Despite all the weaknesses that Madrid possessed, Barcelona exposed them and hit them where it hurts. Luis Suarez was on red-hot form coming into this game and he continued the stuff. Suarez ran all over the Madrid defence and finished the game with a hat-trick. It wasn’t just Suarez though. Suarez replaced Messi’s goals. Sergi Roberto and Jordi Alba demolished the flanks of Madrid and they just didn’t give an inch in the defence.
Pique and Lenglet held their defences when Real Madrid was pouring attacks on for almost the starting 15 minutes in the second half. Dembele and Semedo impressed when they came on. The midfield of Barcelona was on song. The telepathy of Rakitic, Arthur and Busquets looked very close to the legendary Xavi-Iniesta-Busquets midfield. Phillipe Coutinho was brilliant in the left wing till being taken off.
Barcelona won this game as a unit. Even deciding the man of the match is very tough in this game. Suarez scored, Rakitic and Arthur controlled the midfield, Busquets was a pivot, Alba and Roberto used pace to perfection. This is an all-around Barcelona team, something that was missing last season. And they did all this, without their best player.
When Messi returns, this team will only get better. It is too early to speak but these are characteristics of a treble-winning team, something Barcelona isn’t new to, and something they expect to achieve each season.
