Sunday saw Real Madrid go three points clear of Barcelona atop La Liga in a 3-1 victory in El Clasico at the Santiago Bernabeu. Real Madrid's stars made the difference as Barcelona paid for their defensive mistakes despite the return of Jules Kounde.
Sergio Roberto was attacked early and often, and the Barcelona right-back gave Vinicius Junior too much space to start the match, leading to the first goal 12 minutes in. While Marc-Andre ter Stegen was there to stop his initial shot after the Brazilian was sent through, he parried it right into the path of Karim Benzema, who would score the opener on the rebound.
Federico Valverde would double the lead before the half after a superb shot from outside the box. It was a gift to Los Blancos after a mistake from Eric Garcia saw four Real Madrid attackers in space to pass and set up the goal that Valverde took with confidence.
Barcelona never threatened Real Madrid all that much until late aside from a Robert Lewandowski chance in the first half, missing from point-blank range on a sliding effort. Barca got a consolation goal from Ferran Torres before a near-equalizer from Ansu Fati, though the scoreline was closer than the game itself. Rodrygo then scored a penalty kick to complete the scoreline.
The win means Real remain undefeated on the season while Barca suffer their first league loss of the campaign.
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Here are a few takeaways from the match:
Benzema wins the battle of the star strikersIn matches of this magnitude, it's when a team expects their star strikers to get the job done. Carlo Ancelotti didn't need to wait long for Benzema to open the scoring showing why Real Madrid's star man is the favorite for the Ballon d'Or that will be awarded Monday (which you can watch on Paramount+). Benzema's opener was made by following the play to completion but he caused Barcelona trouble all match almost scoring a brace, but his second was ruled out due to being offside.
For Xavi, matches like El Clasico are why Barcelona upgraded from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to Robert Lewandowski and while he helped bail them out against Inter Milan in Champions League with a brace, it was missed chances that made the difference in the match. Raphinha created an excellent chance for Lewandowski only 25 minutes in, but instead of driving the ball into the back of the net, it went over the bar as Real Madrid went on to score a goal only 10 minutes later. The miss was a turning point in the match and it could cost Barcelona the La Liga title when all is said and done at the end of the season.
Defensive miscues need to stopWhile Barcelona has quite the injury list, they hurt themselves more than Real Madrid did. The opening goal was caused by Sergi Roberto being caught out, and while Busquets recognized that and tried to foul Toni Kroos, the challenge wasn't strong enough as Kroos found Vini Jr. to start the goal before Benzema finished the job.But that wasn't the biggest set of miscues as Eric Garcia had a match to forget. His turnover gifted Real Madrid their second goal, but it shouldn't be all on him as no one doubled back to stop Los Blancos. Vini Jr. got the ball on the edge of the box before Aurélien Tchouaméni had time to run up unmarked to then play the ball wide to Ferland Mendy who Barcelona also didn't pick up. To make matters worse, Mendy had the time to set up Valverde for an excellent shot from outside the box.
While one defensive issue started the break, Real Madrid had all the time in the world to make things happen in attack which is a team-wide breakdown. Garcia's day went from bad to worse as he also conceded a penalty to Rodrygo when Barcelona were pushing to get back into the game. While Gerard Pique was just as error-prone during Champions League play, it's crystal clear that Xavi still needs better defenders at his disposal if Barcelona are to hang with the top teams in the world.
A terrible week for BarcelonaWhile things couldn't have gone better for Real Madrid with them taking sole possession of first place in La Liga and also marching to the Champions League knockout rounds, Barcelona will need help in both areas. It's unlikely that Barca will advance to the last 16 of Champions League as things are in Inter's hands but they've also fallen victim to the Drake curse.
Barcelona were wearing Drakes' logo on their kit after he surpassed 50 billion streams on Spotify -- as the music streaming site sponsors Barca and their stadium.The four-time Grammy award winner has a history of teams or players who he is photographed with losing matches that include Paul Pogba and Manchester United, Wilfred Zaha, PSG, Conor McGregor and more. This latest installment could cost Barcelona the La Liga title if they can't get points off of Real Madrid in the reverse fixture at the Spotify Camp Nou in March.
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