Staff Reporter.
Barcelona ontinued their remarkable renaissance under Xavi, snapping a five-game losing streak against Real Madrid in emphatic fashion with a 4-0 victory over their fierce rivals in Sunday’s El Clasico at the Bernabeu.
One of the prime architects of their revival,Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang cored twice, once in either half, sandwiching goals from Ronald Araujo and Ferran Tores. Ousmane Dembele another player reborn since the start of the year, assisted both first-half goals as Barcelona ran rampant against a Madrid side badly missing the injured Karim Benzema and Ferland Mendy.
The victory, their first over Madrid since 2019, moves Barcelona back up to third place in LaLiga and now only behind second-placed Sevillla by three points, with a game in hand. Despite a chastening night in the Spanish capital, Real Madrid’s lead atop the standings remains a healthy nine points after Sevilla could only draw with Real Sociedad earlier in the day.
With Carlo Ancelotti’s side looking disjointed playing without a recognized striker, Barcelona were in the ascendency from almost the first whistle and could have been ahead before Aubameyang scored the 29th minute opener.
Dembele torched Nacho, in for the injured Mendy, down the right and whipped in a fine cross that Aubameyang met in between beleaguered Madrid centre-backs Eder Militao and David Alaba to glance a header inside the far post. The goal made it five games in a row against Madrid that Aubameyang had found the net, including the four he scored in with Borussia Dortmund.
Dembele supplied the assist again nine minutes later as Barcelona doubled their lead. This time his delivery came from a corner, with Araujo the one to take advantage of some slack Madrid marking to head past Thibault Courtios. No player in Europe’s top five leagues now has more assists in 2022 than Dembele’s seven.
Madrid had a glorious chance to level the game up just before that but Vinicus Junior lost his footing as he tried to go around Barcelona goalkeeper Marc- Andre ter Stegen and then appealed in vain for a penalty.
Within two minutes of the start of the second half, the game was effectively over as a contest. Despite a double half-time substitution from Ancelotti, Barcelona picked up right where they left off. Moments after fluffing a glorious chance, Torres made it 3-0 with a cool finish into the top corner after Aubameyang found him with a neat flick following more hapless Madrid defending.
There was an element of controversy as Aubameyang got his brace four minutes later. Madrid defenders had stopped playing before the former Arsenal forward chipped the ball over Courtois and into the back of the net after seeing a raised flag from the assistant referee. But with the whistle not blown and replays showing no offside, the goal was given after a VAR review.
The scoreline could have been even more emphatic but that will be of little concern on a day that continued to suggest a bright future awaits under Xavi. The win is Barcelona’s fifth in a row in LaLiga and means they are now unbeaten in 13 games in all competitions.
Just minutes after full-time, defender Pique posted “We are back” on social media as Barca stretched their unbeaten streak in LaLiga to 13 games.
“Maybe we can say we’re back,” coach Xavi said in his post-game news conference when asked if he agreed with Pique’s message.
“This is the path to follow. This is the way we want to play. It was a complete performance. We were much better than Madrid. We played almost as the home team at their ground.
“We could easily have scored five or six. We changed the negative dynamic of losing the last few Clasicos. It’s a day to enjoy, not only as a Barca manager, but also a fan.”
“I don’t know if we can win the title, we can’t rule out anything,” Xavi added when asked if his side can now aspire to win the league this season. “Maybe we’re a bit late, but this is a very big win for us.
“We’ve won tonight — and we also have the better head-to-head record [against Madrid, which decides the title if both teams finish level on points] — but it is going to be very difficult.
“Madrid have only lost three league games. They have to lose three more. We must keep working hard. The first objective is to qualify for the Champions League.”
The result left Madrid, who hadn’t lost in LaLiga since Jan. 2, nine points clear at the top of the table, with Barca 12 points behind in third place.
“It isn’t difficult to explain. They played better than us,” Ancelotti told Movistar. “We wanted to control the ball more, to press them high, but it didn’t work … It’s my fault.”
He added: “We weren’t recognisable. Everything went badly. We have to forget it and look forward, we have a big lead [in the table]. I said [to the players] that it was the coach’s fault.”
Added Ancelotti: “The plan with Modric was to try to play the ball out from the back and find space between the lines with Rodrygo, Federico, Valverde and Vinicus. It didn’t work. It isn’t a problem for me to take responsibility. Sometimes you get it right and sometimes you don’t. I failed.”
Ancelotti called for “balance” in an assessment of the team’s performance, denying that such a heavy defeat would affect the players’ morale long-term.
“We’d have taken this at the start of the season, being nine points ahead and in the Champions League quarterfinals on March 20,” he said. “I’m really sorry and I’m very sad, but the nine points give me balance.”