Real Madrid 0-4 Barcelona: Barca demolish Clasico rivals
Real Madrid 0-4 Barcelona: Barca demolish Clasico rivals. Barcelona come out on top for the first Clasico meeting of the season, after scoring four times in the second half to blow away bitter rivals Real Madrid in El Clasico at the Bernabeu on Saturday night.
Two successive goals from Robert Lewandowski stunned the hosts and Los Blancos looked completely shattered late on as Lamine Yamal and Raphinha took the scoreline to 4-0.
Kylian Mbappe had a night to remember during the fixture, as he constantly strayed offside and fluffing his side’s best chances on their way to defeat.
How the game unfolded?
With all the subplots talked about and the players champing at the bit, El Clasico kicked off as Madrid applied some early pressure at the Bernabeu.
Mbappe first ran offside and shot wide before Vinicius Junior began darting towards the penalty area from the left wing. Inaki Pena had to deal with a corner before Lamine Yamal started to show off his skills, weaving past through Madrid defenders before teasing a ball towards Raphinha, who just couldn’t latch on to it.
An Mbappe potshot nearly dipped over Pena from distance, while Yamal could only shoot straight at Andriy Lunin from Lewandowski’s flick.
Vinicius was wasteful from close range, dragging an effort into the side netting with only Pena left to beat, before Mbappe’s kryptonite hounded him again as he ran offside before finishing and celebrating, only to see the goal quickly chalked off.
While Madrid arguably boasted the better openings of the first 45 minutes, it was Lewandowski’s contribution early in the second half that proved decisive.
The Poland international galloped on to Marc Casado’s nice threaded pass forward, with Ferland Mendy inexplicably keeping him level. Lewandowski rolled his shot in at the near post and soon doubled Barca’s advantage with yet another clinical finish.
With his second goal in three minutes, the 36-year-old rose unmarked to powerfully head in Alejandro Balde’s cross from the left, leaving the Bernabeu crowd totally stunned by the quick double punch.
It could have been worse for Carlo Ancelotti’s side, as Lewandowski had the opportunity to secure the match ball with two gilt-edged chances, but he did hit the post from point-blank range before skying the other chance over the bar.
The misses mattered little, however. While Madrid have shown their powerful techniques of recovery as recently as Tuesday night when they came from 2-0 down to beat Borussia Dortmund 5-2, Saturday’s hosts had little response to Barca’s slick football and let in a third when Yamal made history.
The Spain wonderkid skipped down the right and fired past Andriy Lunin at the near post, becoming just the youngest goalscorer in El Clasico history.
That goal put the match beyond Madrid, but it went from bad to worse for the reigning champions as Inigo Martinez easily picked out Raphinha with a long ball forward. The Brazilian got on the end of it and looped his effort over Lunin, capping a truly remarkable Barca performance and ending Madrid’s unbeaten La Liga run which had stretched back to 24 September 2023.
