Barcelona defeated rivals Real Madrid 4-0 on Saturday, causing the Spanish champions to suffer their first La Liga loss in more than a year. Robert Lewandowski scored twice in three minutes. In a painful debut Clasico appearance, Madrid ace Kylian Mbappe had two goals disallowed for offside, and Los Blancos, who now trail league leaders Barcelona by six points, lost to teenage winger Lamine Yamal and Raphinha to complete the thumping. The frustrated Santiago Bernabeu crowd, whose mood soured as Barcelona scored four goals in the second half, felt constant frustration as France captain Mbappe struggled against the visitors’ high defensive line.
Barcelona further enhanced their victory by ending Madrid’s 42-game La Liga winning streak, just one game shy of the Catalan powerhouses’ all-time record.
In just a few months, Hansi Flick has transformed Barcelona, and his youthful team ended a run of four Clasico losses with a decisive win to demonstrate their progress.
With his team’s strategy clear—defend in numbers and attempt to release Mbappe or Vinicius with a long ball into the gap behind Barcelona’s high defensive line—Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti chose Eduardo Camavinga over Luka Modric in order to add strength in the middle.
Barcelona’s defense caught Madrid offside eight times as a result, making the first half both heated and monotonous.
Jude Bellingham forced an incredible save from Barcelona goalkeeper Inaki Pena, but it would have also been disqualified for offside, and Mbappe struck the side-netting and lobbed over again, but both attempts were offside.
At the other end, after Lewandowski executed a fantastic flick to send him through on goal, Barcelona’s young sensation Yamal made a gentle attempt at Andriy Lunin.
Although Lunin made a stop against the Brazilian winger and Raphinha blasted over, Barcelona did not play with the fluency they had in previous weeks, which led to their thrilling 4-1 Champions League victory against Bayern Munich on Wednesday.
When Mbappe went in behind and delivered a beautiful dinked finish over Pena, he seemed to have broken the stalemate, but the referee cut his celebration short once more because the striker was just a little bit offside.
In the first half, Madrid only managed one legitimate attempt, with Vinicius dragging into the side-netting after attempting to catch Pena out at the near post, despite the impression that they were continuously threatening Barcelona.
Desiring greater authority At halftime, Flick substituted Frenkie de Jong for Fermin Lopez, and Barcelona quickly seized the lead.
Lewandowski was onside when Casado let him through, with Madrid defender Ferland Mendy behind his teammates by one step.
In order to hush the Bernabeu, the 36-year-old scored low past Lunin and then pounced again two minutes later.
After suffering the previous season, Lewandowski continued his incredible comeback under Flick by heading home Alejandro Balde’s cross to increase Barcelona’s lead and score his 14th league goal in 11 games.
As Madrid tried to rally, Mbappe’s second goal was disallowed for offside, and Pena stopped a low, stinging attempt from the former Paris Saint-Germain attacker.
Lewandowski missed two excellent chances to seal his hat-trick, one after Yamal’s superb effort and the other after Raphinha’s layoff shot against the post.
Raphinha left the Bernabeu reeling after finishing the thrashing with a lob over Lunin.
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