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official, Barcelona have bragging rights in Spain, having triumphed in three of the four domestic El Clasico clashes of this season (by an aggregate score of 10-2), winning the latest installment by 1-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu, courtesy a first half strike by Ivan Rakitic.
The victory took Barcelona 10 points clear on top of Atletico Madrid in second place, while Real Madrid lie 12 points behind in third.
Los Blancos needed a victory in the match to resuscitate their slim hopes of league glory, but the defeat leaves all their domestic aspirations shattered, having also been knocked out of the Copa Del Rey by the same opponents on Wednesday.
This was Barcelona's fourth consecutive La Liga victory over Real Madrid at the Bernabeu, with the capital club having not tasted league victory over their bitter rivals on their own patch since a 3-1 win in 2014.
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This defeat would be a bitter pill to swallow (as all Clasico losses usually are for both teams), and there are likely to be repercussions, as consecutive home defeats are never acceptable at a club like Real Madrid, much less against Barcelona. In this piece, we shall be taking a look at three factors which contributed to Real Madrid's loss.
#3 Barcelona's defensive solidity
Barcelona's exotic style and intricate possession based system of play means that most attention is usually placed on their midfield and attack, with players like Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Ousmane Dembele amongst others usually the ones to get all the accolades.
Very rarely is Barca's defence highlighted, as they are usually so dominant in matches that their backline is seldomly tested.
However, El Clasicos are very special sets of matches and both teams' almost equal strength (even though some results don't reflect this) means they are routinely very keenly contested affairs.
Real Madrid possesses numerous world class players capable of unlocking any defense in the world and on the day, they gained control of the match for large periods, keeping Barcelona on the backfoot and leaving them flustered.
Credit must however go to the Barcelona rearguard, as they gave it their all, not afraid to put their body on the line, with Clement Lenglet in particular being the bane of the Madrid attack, going in for challenges and not giving the Madrid attackers a moment's space.
The Blaugrana's defensive solidity proved crucial, especially in the dying stages of the second half, when Real Madrid threw out the kitchen sink in search of an equalizer, but credit must go to Pique and co. for holding their ground and refusing to budge.
Arturo Vidal was introduced late in the second half in place of the more fragile Arthur to shut up shop, and the Chilean was at his destructive best, thwarting any attack Real conjured with his box to box movement, aggressive tackling and all round tenacity coming in very handy.
Barcelona might be more associated with aesthetic and intricate play, but as they showed against Real Madrid, they are also adept at doing the dirty work and on the day, it was their defensive solidity which came to the rescue and granted them all three points.
#2 Lack of bite in their attack
For large portions of the fixture at the Bernabeu, the home side were on the front foot, pushing their visitors backwards and forcing them into clearing their lines rather hurriedly.
This came about as Real Madrid's midfield did their work, effectively overriding Barcelona in the middle of the park, thereby stopping their supply chain with the result being that Lionel Messi was forced top drop deep and try to influence proceedings.
That Real Madrid failed to score was not for want of trying (they had 10 shots in total, with only 3 of those being on target), as they continuously created chances, only to be thwarted by their poor decision making in the final third and some resolute defending from Barcelona.
Of Real's three starting attackers on the night, only Vinicius Jr can genuinely claim to have made a mark on the game, as the Brazilian was a constant menace in the flesh of the Barca defence, with his exhilarating runs forward and change of pace proving too much to handle, although the teenager was let down by some wayward finishing on more than one occasion.
The same cannot be said about his strike partners, as both Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema were relative spectators for most of the match, with the whistles blown around the Bernabeu upon the Welshman's substitution serving as a signal that the Real Madrid crowd were disappointed with his performance on the night.
Goals win matches and it is usually the duty of the forwards in a team to put the ball in the back of the net. However against Barcelona, Real Madrid's forwards were horribly off-form and this unfortunately cost them goals and a home defeat to their worst rivals.
#1 Tiki taka to the rescue
Over the years, Barcelona have made a name for themselves by deploying a possession based style of football which emphasises keeping of the ball by exploiting spaces with intricate passing, leaving opponents confused and unable to keep up.
Better known as tiki taka, this style of play helped forge Barcelona into arguably the greatest club team in history and even though the original pass masters Xavi and Iniesta have since departed the club and new players now don the colors of Barca, tiki taka is still employed to some degree at the club.
Barcelona players have always been adept at passing and they brought this ability to the fore against Real Madrid, splitting open their defence time and again with sleek one touch passing which the Real defenders found hard to keep up with.
Even the solitary goal of the night came about in this manner, in a five-touch move involving Lionel Messi, Ivan Rakitic and Sergi Roberto and ended with the ball being lobbed over Courtois and into the back of the net, with Real Madrid players caught out.
