El Clasico always throws up some surprises and, more often than not, tends to offer up a really fun game of football – and that was the case once again on Sunday night as Real Madrid managed to defeat Barcelona 3-1 at the Bernabeu to leap to the top of the La Liga table.
In the wake of their triumph, we decided to take a look at three big takeaways from the contest.
Real pick their moments
They had eight shots compared to Barca’s 18 and only had 43% possession from beginning to end, but that was all Real Madrid needed to make a significant splash. They took their time, picked Barcelona off when they felt they were most vulnerable and most importantly, they never seemed to panic. There was an overriding sense of control and that’s a testament to what Carlo Ancelotti is producing at the club.
Barca’s youngsters shine
When the likes of Ferran Torres, Gavi and Ansu Fati were all introduced to the pitch, Barcelona immediately seemed to be playing with a bit more team cohesion. They were keeping things calm and level-headed and approaching the game more intelligently, which should give Xavi some food for through regarding what kind of setup he wants to go with for the remainder of this rollercoaster campaign.
A long way to go
Spending big in the summer transfer window, given their financial situation, was always going to be a big risk for Barcelona – and the hope was clearly that they would see immediate change. Alas, it rarely works out that way in this sport, with this match proving that Real still hold all the cards. Barca are making progress but there needs to be a certain amount of patience when you consider just how much turnover there has been at the Nou Camp in recent years.
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