Real Madrid 0-4 FC Barcelona: Match review | OneFootball

FC Barcelona strengthened their grip at the top of the table as they steamrolled arch rivals Real Madrid, in what was a shambolic performance by the home side.

A lineup pretty similar to the one that took the field against Borussia Dortmund was fielded in this game, with Eduardo Camavinga being the only change as the Frenchman replaced Luka Modric in midfield.

The offside trap from FC Barcelona came into effect in just the second minute after a close miss from Kylian Mbappe was ruled as offside. The French striker even went on to score in the 31st minute but even that was found offside.

FC Barcelona looked on the backfoot for a good chunk of the first half as Real Madrid played out their best performance so far this season in an opening half of a match, with Eduardo Camavinga and Jude Bellingham being the standout players.

But what followed afterwards is something every Real Madrid fan would like to forget as soon as possible.

Like in most matches this season, FC Barcelona came out a different side in the second half, replacing Fermin Lopez with Frenkie De Jong. That move might as well be regarded as a game changing one.

Marc Casado played a sumptuous, line-breaking pass in the path of Robert Lewandowski who was played onside by the last man, Ferland Mendy. The Polish striker struck from just inches outside the box to give Barca the lead in the 54th minute.

Without giving Madrid any chances, just two minutes later Alejandro Balde put in an inch perfect cross from Lewandowski for the striker to have his second of the game – amidst some poor defending by Éder Militão.

This seemed like a similar game to the one against Borussia Dortmund and even after conceding twice in as many minutes, there was still some hope for Real Madrid.

But that hope was shattered 20 minutes later, as Lamine Yamal became the youngest player to score in an El Clasico and seal the game for the Blaugrana side.

And Kylian Mbappe happened to find the back of the net yet again but the offside flag came back to haunt him like it had all game.

Strangely enough, just a minute earlier Carlo Ancelotti had substitued Madrid’s best player, Eduardo Camavinga, for Brahim Díaz, who looked like a fish out of the water throughout his time on the pitch.

To make matters worse, Raphinha was able to outrun Lucas Vazquez and chip the ball over Lunin to complete the annihilation and end up with a fabulous win for the visitors.

Hansi Flick’s offside trap was executed to perfection by the Barca backline – even though Real Madrid had talked about it and practiced dealing with it in training sessions before the match.

Real Madrid fell into that trap as many as 12 times, with Kylian Mbappe being on the receiving end 8 times – also the amount of goals Mbappe has scored this season.

To sum it up, FC Barcelona managed to stop Kylian Mbappe and even Vinicius, without having to do anything special.

Still, Madrid played a good first half – as acknowledged by Ancelotti – but after the opening goal in the second half, the floodgates just opened and as a result, Madrid wanted to equalise soon which led to two more goals.

The Italian manager did not regret his game plan which in all fairness, seemed like it could work but there was no stopping the Barcelona front line in the second half.

An even more glaring issue which came to the fore after the match was Jude Bellingham’s average position last night being lower than that of Lucas Vazquez which means that the Englishman was playing as a right wing-back.

This is just limiting his abilities specially when players like Fede Valverde were available to do that job. Jude still gave his 100% but there was so little he could do on his own.

Those close to Florentino Perez have commented that this is a loss Perez will never be able to forget.  To make matters even worse, Antonio Rüdiger and Lucas Vazquez ended the match with discomfort and tests will be carried out to get a better idea of their situations.

To make things right, Florentino can reinforce the backline in January and at least give Carlo Ancelotti some resources in defence, otherwise the Italian would get the sack since the margin of error with this club and specially with such a star studded squad, is even less.

FC Barcelona just go from strength to strength and take a considerable 6-point lead over Real Madrid. With the form they are in, the Blaugrana have a golden opportunity to secure the league title.

As far as Real Madrid are concerned, they have a lot to work to do and Carlo Ancelotti needs to figure out something as soon as possible because even his position has gotten sensitive at the club. The 42-match unbeaten La Liga streak also came to an end, with the record of 43, ironically held by Barcelona.

Next up, Los Blancos come up against Valencia at the Mestalla on Saturday.