Vintage Barca thrash Real Madrid

Barcelona ran riot over Real Madrid to register a splendid 4-0 win at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang bagged a brace with goals also coming from Ferran Torres and Ronald Araujo.

Madrid totally outclassed

The margin could, and should, have been bigger.

Over the course of 90 minutes, Barcelona were rampant and bar a glorious chance for Vinicius Jr no clear opportunity came the hosts’ way.

The win not only reduced Barcelona’s deficit on league leaders Real Madrid to 12 points, but it also ended their five game losing streak in Clasicos going back to 2019.

To justify the dominance of it all, this is the first time Real Madrid have conceded four league goals at home since November 2015 – also against Barca.

Barcelona dominated the ball and it seemed Real’s plan was to play on the counter.

Playing further up than usual, Modric looked out of ideas and wasn’t sure what to do when the opportunity presented itself.

Valverde didn’t get much of a look in either and had very few, if any, opportunities to gallop forward.

It didn’t help that Barcelona moved the ball quickly, pressed higher and made very few mistakes.

Aubameyang breaks records

The first, Aubameyang, found the net twice to take his goalscoring tally to seven goals from as many league games.

He also continued his prolific streak against Real Madrid: six goals in five games.

The Gabonese striker is the second player to score twice and provide an assist on a Clasico debut. The first? Real Madrid legend Alfredo Di Stefano in 1953.

For the first, he sprinted to the near post and headed in from a Ousmanne Dembele cross.

For the second he remained in-line with the final defender and dinked past Thibaut Courtois to make it 4-0.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Miguel Ángel Bustillo (1969 season) are the only two players to have scored a brace while playing their first ‘El Clasico’ at the Santiago Bernabeu.

The two goals scored by Aubameyang (29′, 51′) make him the second player to achieve this record after more than 50 years.

This over-reliance on Benzema has been a challenge for the club ever since Cristiano Ronaldo left.