NO-MESSI BARCELONA DEMOLISH REAL MADRID 5-1

By Nigel Phillips

Barcelona once again changed the status of the El Clasico from being the fiercest rivalry game on earth to just an ordinary fixture as they whipped sworn rivals Real Madrid 5-1 at the Camp Nou on Sunday.

That was even without the living football legend, Lionel Messi, who missed the La Liga match day-ten fixture for the first time over the last ten years.

It was the first time Julen Lopetegui’s Los Blancos were also playing in the El Clasico without the legendary Cristiano Robado, who switched to Juventus last summer.

And Ernesto Valverde's men showed no deficiency against the lackluster Real Madrid as Luis Suarez turned up in style and provided a hat-trick in between strikes from Phillippe Coutinho and substitute Arturo Vidal.

It was the second time Barcelona were making Real Madrid and the El Clasico that ordinary in seven seasons as they thumped the Los Blancos, then handled by Jose Mourinho, 5-0 at the Camp Nou in the 2010/11 season.

Sunday’s win puts Barcelona back to the top of the La Liga table with 21 points, three points above second-placed Atletico Madrid, and seven points more than Real Madrid, who are ninth on the log.

Barcelona zoomed into their trademark passing game from referee Jose Sanchez’s whistle, and it took them just ten minutes to open the floodgates.

Jordi Alba was found with a decent searching pass on the left wing, and the wing-back played a cutback pass to Coutinho, who shot past Thibaut Courtois.

Thibaut Courtois saved Arthur Melo’s decent strike with an equally decent save in the 19th minute before Sanchez awarded a penalty to Barcelona in the 30th minute after confirming from the VAR, a cut from behind on Luis Suarez by Raphael Varane.

Suarez stepped up to it and sent an unstoppable penalty past Thibaut Courtois into the bottom left corner.

Barcelona looked sluggish from the start of the second half and allowed Real Madrid more time on the ball.

Real Madrid earned something for their performance in the 50th minute when Marcelo pounced on a loose ball inside the hosts’ penalty box to beat Marc Andre ter Stegan with a right-footed shot into the middle of the net after body-swerving Gerard Pique.

Luka Modric curled a shot into the right post in the 56th minute, Luis Suarez hit a decent strike into the right post in the 61st minute before Karim Benzema failed to draw even for the visitors in the 69th minute by heading a close-range effort just wide.

 

Suarez grabbed his brace in the 75th minute when he latched onto Sergi Roberto’s lofted pass to head the ball into the right side of the goal.

Karim Benzema fed on a through ball in the 82nd minute but shot a fraction wide of the left post, and Suarez made Madrid pay for that miss, a minute later, by steering the ball into the back of the net with a clever chip over Thibaut Courtois.

Arturo Vidal came off the bench to complete the rout in the 87th minute when he completed fellow substitute, Ousmane Dembele’s, perfect cross with an equally perfect header.

The Uruguayan could have made matters worse for Madrid had Thibaut Courtois not blocked his goal-bound shot in the 90th minute.