Same game, same stage and… same result. For the second time in three days, Barcelona visited Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu and left with a win. This Saturday, the score was only 1-0, and the hero of the night was midfielder Rakitic, who scored the only goal of a triumph that makes Barca re-dominate El Clásico after 87 years.
The victory at the Bernabeu gives Barcelona a further boost to the Spanish title and virtually buries the chances of Real Madrid in the La Liga dispute. The Catalans now have 60 points, 12 points clear of their biggest rivals, who are in third place. Atletico Madrid has 50 points but still plays on this Sunday.
The triumph goes down into the history of the classic for breaking a barrier that Barcelona had not surpassed since 1932. The result in the Bernabeu makes that Barca has, for the first time in 87 years, more victories than Real in the general retrospective of the Classic: now Barcelona has 96 triumphs as Real Madrid has 95 and 51 draws in 242 games.
Exactly as it happened on the midweek, Real Madrid had more offensive volume in the match, insisting on plays by the wings, but Barcelona returned to show the precision that earned them the victory last Wednesday. This time, the goal came earlier in the first half with Rakitic – and then the Catalans began to act by investing in counterattacks, marking the attacks of Real. Outcome: three more points for Barça at the Bernabeu.
The protagonist of the Real Madrid in the game of the last Wednesday, in the King’s Cup, Vinicius Junior did not have so many shine sets on Saturday. The Brazilian was very active, especially in the second half, but he had fewer opportunities in one against one – he was well marked, often by two rival players. Still, he had chances to finish and showed personality before the rival.
Since CR7 left, Barça seemed to have outplayed Madrid in so many ways that it’s even hard to describe. The difference between the two sides is unbelievable.