El Clasico: Messi-less Barcelona mercilessly destroyed Real Madrid
Football cannot get any better than El Clasico - Barcelona vs Real Madrid. As two heavyweights of the Spanish top-flight clash against each other, it was a wonderful night for the home fans. Barcelona fled past Madrid at Camp Nou with an astonishing scoreline, a whopping 5-1, with Luis Suarez scoring a wonderful hat-trick, his first against Los Blancos.
Both the teams started with a good rhythm but Barca were early to strike in a match that writes history with each iteration. El Clasico is famous because of the rivalry between the two greatest clubs in the world.
However, in recent years, it was famous for the two greatest footballers on the planet, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. But Ronaldo's transfer to Juve and Messi missing the match because of an injury created a cloud of doubt whether it was going to be a match that everyone expects from a Clasico.
As it turned out, it went pretty well for Barcelona and their fans as they got to enjoy an amazing goal-fest in what could be described as an absolute humiliation of Real Madrid. The Blaugrana looked for some inspiration as their captain was sidelined by an arm injury and Suarez stepped up to run the show at Camp Nou.
Coach Julen Lopetegui's job was on the line as Madrid started the match. We just have to wait and see if the Spaniard will continue his tenure with Real Madrid or will be sacked because of the team's performance in the most prestigious match in the Primera Division or probably the world.
Madrid were very sloppy in the first half as they could not get on the ball and conceded two goals early on. There was no magic on the field and their game was just not clicking. Meanwhile, Barcelona were mercilessly attacking a defence that was not built to stand strong.
Madrid's defence was all over the place at Camp Nou. Neither were they holding a line nor possessing a threat to the opposition attackers. The Barcelona attackers were easily coming into the box. It was Coutinho who opened the scoring for Barcelona from a fine cross from Jordi Alba.
The second goal came from the VAR assisted penalty which saw Suarez score his first goal for the night which went on to become a magic three by the end of the match. Suarez could have scored a sensational scorpion goal in the late stages of the game but the Belgian goalkeeper stopped the effort.
After a Barcelona dominated first-half, Madrid looked to come back into the match with a goal from Marcelo. For a moment Madrid actually played well and caused panic for the Catalan defenders.
Luca Modric's effort bounced back from the woodwork which could have been a ticket back into the match for Real. But after that moment Real did not look to possess a threat to the Barcelona goalpost.
The match changed after the introduction of Dembele, as Barca posed more threat to Real and were quick to attack a disorganized Madrid Defence. They kept on attacking and scoring effortlessly as Madrid's defence was broken into pieces.
The final scoreline was 5 - 1. An absolute disgrace for Real and a huge delight for Barca, this match will be remembered for years to come. This loss takes Real Madrid to 9th place in the League table.
They have not won a game after the win over Roma in the UEFA Champions League. Barcelona sits 7 points clear of its rival on the top of the table. Luis Suarez smashed Barcelona's first non-Messi hat-trick since Romario in 1994.