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After four consecutive victories for Real Madrid in important El Clasico matches, FC Barcelona finally got a hold of their arch-rival. Even something so emphatic.
Away in Madrid, Barcelona won 4-0 on top of a goalless first half.
At the same time, a period of 13 months without a La Liga defeat for Real ended.
With the victory, Barcelona closes a gap in the table to Real. After 11 games, Barcelona leads with 30 points ahead of Real with 24.
Real otherwise set the tone before the break, but the offside rule stood in the way for the home team on Saturday evening.
Instead, Robert Lewandowski became the Barcelona hero with two goals inside two second-half minutes, and Lamine Yamal and Raphinha completed the triumph.
From the beginning, the game was played at a high and intense pace, and Real Madrid’s attacking zeal in particular was almost suffocating.
Time and time again, Real played for gigantic chances, but in fact just as many times, subsequent slow replays revealed that there had been offside in the play.
It happened after some big fires from Kylian Mbappé and Vinicius Junior, who could at least take comfort in the fact that a potential score had been disallowed.
When Mbappé finally sent the ball into the net after half an hour, and it was thought there was a goal, it was disallowed for offside.
The Barcelona defense had to be praised for an effective offside trap, but at the other end Barcelona had difficulty asserting themselves before the break.
However, young Lamine Yamal was given a great chance, which he squandered with a sloppy finish.
Barcelona came out on top after the break and took the lead in the 54th minute.
On the edge of offside, Robert Lewandowski was played free and just outside the box the Pole clinically finished with a flat shot beyond the reach of keeper Andriy Lunin.
Just two minutes later he struck again. Left back Alejandro Balde served up a cross which Lewandowski took advantage of with a perfectly timed header.
In the continuation, the striker even abused a couple of fierce chances to complete his hat-trick.
At the other end, Mbappé had two great chances to reduce, but in both cases goalkeeper Inaki Pena saved, and when he got the ball into the net, the Frenchman was again ruled offside.
So it smelled like more goals, and Lamine Yamal provided that with 13 minutes left. From a slightly sharp angle, he smashed his first El Clasico goal into the roof of the net to give Barcelona a 3-0 lead.
The humiliation was total with a handful of minutes remaining when Raphinha was played free in the deep and lifted the ball smartly over the onrushing Lunin.
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Source: politiken.dk
