Afrigather 
Barcelona crushed rivals Actual Madrid 4-0 within the first Clasico of the season to maneuver six factors clear on the prime of LaLiga and halt Los Blancos’ year-long unbeaten run.
Madrid entered Saturday’s recreation hoping to equal the longest unbeaten run in LaLiga historical past – a streak of 43 video games set by Ernesto Valverde’s Barcelona between 2017 and 2018.
Nevertheless, they had been blown away in entrance of a shocked Santiago Bernabeu crowd as Robert Lewandowski scored twice in two second-half minutes, with Lamine Yamal and Raphinha later becoming a member of him on the scoresheet.
Whereas Carlo Ancelotti’s aspect slumped to their first league defeat since September 2023, Hansi Flick’s Barca made an announcement concerning their title aspirations, recording their tenth win in 11 video games this marketing campaign.
FT: #ELCLÁSICO 0-4
A press release win from Hansi Flick’s aspect. #LALIGAEASPORTS pic.twitter.com/qhKVXBDdmz
— LALIGA English (@LaLigaEN) October 26, 2024
Madrid had been on the entrance foot early on, although they had been frequently caught out by Barcelona’s offside entice. Mbappe dragged one shot extensive after going too early, then noticed one other shot clawed off the road by Inaki Pena earlier than the flag went up once more.
Mbappe broke clear to chip Pena on the half-hour mark, however his celebrations had been short-lived because the flag went up as soon as extra.
The momentum switched after half-time, although, and Barca made the breakthrough 9 minutes after the restart as Lewandowski took in Marc Casado’s cross earlier than ending low from the sting of the realm.
Lewandowski had his second simply over two minutes later, directing an exquisite header into the bottom-right nook after being picked out by Alejandro Balde.
Madrid desperately sought a response as Pena denied Mbappe with a one-on-one save, whereas Lewandowski missed two golden probabilities for a hat-trick, clipping the publish with the aim gaping then blazing over from a decent angle.
However Barca did get their third when Raphinha despatched Yamal racing into the field and the 17-year-old lashed his shot inside Lunin’s close to publish.
And issues bought even higher with six minutes to play as Raphinha bought in on the act, dinking a shot over Lunin after latching onto Inigo Martinez’s looking out cross.
A sky filled with stars
Forward of Saturday’s recreation, every of Barca’s final 5 head coaches had misplaced their first match in cost in opposition to Madrid (Xavi, Ronald Koeman, Quique Setien, Valverde and Luis Enrique), since Gerardo Martino oversaw a 2-1 win in his first Clasico in 2013.
Nevertheless, Flick bucked that development as Barca made it an ideal week, having additionally routed their boss’ former membership Bayern Munich 4-1 within the Champions League on Wednesday.
Lewandowski dragged them clear along with his quickfire double, and he now has 10 objectives in 16 profession video games in opposition to Madrid in all competitions, although these had been his first strikes in opposition to them in LaLiga.
Yamal and Raphinha then added some gloss to the scoreline. The latter is one in all simply three gamers to register not less than 5 objectives and 5 assists in one in all Europe’s prime 5 leagues this marketing campaign (six objectives, six assists).
The match stats had been all in Barca’s favour, portray the image of a dominant show. The guests had 15 photographs to Madrid’s 9, bought seven of these on track and collected 2.45 anticipated objectives (xG) to Los Blancos’ 1.48.
Donning their Coldplay-sponsored kits, it actually was a sensational Clasico show from Barca, who face Espanyol subsequent as they bid to place additional distance between themselves and the chasing pack.
Madrid caught out as unbeaten run ends
Having gone 42 video games unbeaten in LaLiga since a 3-1 defeat to rivals Atletico Madrid final yr, Madrid had been chasing a slice of Spanish top-flight historical past on Saturday.
With backside membership Valencia up subsequent for Ancelotti’s males, this felt like the ultimate actual impediment between them and the outright file unbeaten run in LaLiga.
Nevertheless, identical to Bayern in midweek, Madrid frequently struggled to spring Barcelona’s aggressive offside entice, with Flick’s daring out-of-possession strategy paying off once more.
Madrid had been caught offside eight occasions within the first half – their joint most on file (since 2003-04) in a single LaLiga match, equalling their tally in opposition to Celta Vigo in March 2013.
Mbappe alone was caught offside eight occasions, essentially the most by any participant in a single recreation in Europe’s prime 5 leagues since Karim Benzema in opposition to Eibar in November 2018.
