The Blaugrana all-but secured the title with Sunday's thrilling win as they exposed the gap between Spain's two biggest teams
Sure you fancy this, Xabi? After 90-plus minutes of breathless, controversial and utterly gripping football between Real Madrid and Barcelona, one thing is clear: whoever manages this Madrid team next has either got to be a madman, miracle-worker or masochist – and possibly a bit of all three.
Los Blancos and La Blaugrana played out a fourth wonderful contest of the campaign as Barca battered Madrid again and showed why they will run away with this La Liga title. With three games remaining after Sunday's 4-3 win, their lead stands at seven points. It is not inconceivable, then, that they win the league by double digits. That would hurt Madrid immensely, but it would be by no means an unfair reflection of the gap in quality between these two teams.
You just had to look at it. For 15 minutes, Madrid were in dreamland. Kylian Mbappe, who scored a hat-trick despite not playing that well bagged two early on, and the title race was back on. And then, reality set in, Barca started to play football, and it turned into something of a bloodbath.
Hansi Flick's side scored four goals in the first half without really breaking a sweat. Eric Garcia got the first off a set piece, Lamine Yamal added the next with another wonderful curled effort for his ever-growing catalogue of stunning goals, and Raphinha came up clutch again by netting two more incisive strikes off deadly counter-attacks.
Still, Madrid hung around. Mbappe completed his hat-trick in the second half while Vinicius Jr pulled off the magnificent feat of assisting his strike partner twice while also being totally anonymous in the scope of the game. Barca, though, had a fifth goal of their own VAR-d off and a decent penalty shout turned down; never has a one-goal win seemed so comprehensive.
Madrid cannot feel hard done by what is now almost certain to be a trophy-less campaign (unless you count the UEFA Super Cup or FIFA's Intercontinental Cup). Carlo Ancelotti is on the way out, and while it's not quite clear if he's jumping or being pushed, all parties seem pretty content with their parting of ways. Xabi Alonso, meanwhile, is the next man up, and he will walk into a club that has become pretty unstable.
Alonso will be able to call upon the most gifted attacking footballer in the world and others of varying degrees of brilliant who have no apparent connection to each other. Ancelotti – the coach with perhaps more gravitas than anyone in world football – could not manage this team in the end, so what makes Alonso think he can do the same? After all, the task in Madrid will not only be to catch this Barca team; he will also be expected to beat them, batter them, and establish supremacy in Spanish football once more.
As Sunday showed, not even three goals from one of the world's best can truly make that happen.
GOAL breaks down the winners & losers from the Olympic Stadium…
Getty Images SportWINNER: Barca's brilliant wingers
Most could have seen this coming. Lucas Vazquez is not a right-back while Fran Garcia is Real Madrid's third choice left-back. Raphinha and Lamine Yamal, meanwhile, are two of the top three Ballon d'Or contenders this season and Barcelona score goals for fun. Heading into Sunday's game, the Blaugrana had already put 12 goals past Madrid's beleaguered defence in three games, and so Los Blancos were always likely to suffer.
Yamal and Raphinha are two very different players. Raphinha darts, sprints and stretches defences, while Yamal creates, weaves through defenders, and looks for gaps where no one else can see a millimetre of room. They work together perfectly.
Such was the case on Sunday. Yamal did his part on the right, scoring one stunner while creating three chances as he teased Garcia throughout. Raphinha, meanwhile, was at his deadly, direct best on the left. He found the net twice, but on another day – and without a couple of key interventions from Thibaut Courtois – could have had four.
Barca have been so much better than Madrid all over the pitch in the four times they have met this year. But on the wings, their strengths have been truly decisive.
AdvertisementGetty Images SportLOSER: Lucas Vazquez
Barca's task might have been made more difficult if Ancelotti had got his selection at right-back correct. After Dani Carvajal's season-ending ACL injury, Ancelotti has picked between two players – neither of whom are naturals in the position. Lucas Vazquez, a right-winger who was pushed further back when it became clear that he wouldn't get into the side as an attacking player, is starting to look his age (33). The other option, Federico Valverde, has performed admirably in the position at times – but his qualities are also needed in the middle of the pitch.
Ancelotti went for the former, and, well, yikes. Vazquez was ritually torn apart by Raphinha for 84 minutes, pulled left and right in one of the more disastrous individual displays you'll see in El Clasico. He was at fault for at least two of the four Barca goals, and didn't offer much going the other way, either.
The good news for Madrid fans is that help is on its way in the shape of Trent Alexander-Arnold. However, Los Blancos need some more defensive grit at full-back, someone who can deal with one-on-ones, and really ensure that opposing wingers have it hard. Alexander-Arnold has been dribbled past more than anyone else in the Premier League this season, which perhaps doesn't bode well for the future of this particular match-up.
Regardless, at least the Liverpool man won't be a square peg in a round hole. Vazquez was a disaster on Sunday as he showed that he might not be able to function much more at this level. Alexander-Arnold surely has to be an upgrade… right?
GettyWINNER: Hansi Flick
The Hansi Flick character arc has made for fine watching. First, he was the genius who led Bayern Munich to every possible trophy in the 2019-20 season. He had his perfect team, a well-oiled pressing machine with Robert Lewandowski leading the line. This was modern German football at its finest. Then, he got the Germany national team job, and realised that international football is markedly slower, and no one really presses. He was the wrong fit from day one, and it was no surprise to see him dismissed just months before Germany hosted Euro 2024.
Barca, then, was a curious fit, especially given the club's history when it comes to style of play. Flick, though, has built a wonderfully balanced side. Their high line has its critics, but it worked a charm here, puzzling Mbappe and Vinicius throughout. His midfield hounded, harassed and pressed their Madrid counterparts to no end, leaving Jude Bellingham, Valverde and Dani Ceballos with no room to breathe. And they were deadly on the break.
Remember, Flick has injury issues of his own. He went into this game without his first-choice full-backs and striker while his goalkeeper was retiring this time last year – but you wouldn't have known it. Flick will win La Liga in his first season in charge along with the Copa del Rey and Supercopa, and things are only on the up for Barca.
Getty Images SportLOSER: Kylian Mbappe
Is Mbappe the master of scoring hat-tricks that don't matter? That's slightly harsh, of course; his trio of goals in the 2022 World Cup final played a key part in what was – and remains – one of the greatest games of football ever. Although a valiant failure, his individual performance was one for the ages.
But he did do a repeat job here, scoring three times in a loss. And there were some similarities to his performance. Like in Qatar, Mbappe was the top performer in an otherwise outplayed team. And like in that defeat to Argentina, he could – and perhaps should – have scored more.
It was, in many ways, a microcosm of the way Mbappe has functioned in this Madrid side. He has now set the record for goals in a debut season for any Madrid player, and he will likely pip Robert Lewandowski to the Pichichi. But all of his quality, all of his individual moments led to naught.
He scored three in El Clasico without playing particularly well, or making Madrid better. That's the problem with Mbappe, more broadly: for all of his talent, it's impossible not to think that he should be doing more. He is the same player at 26 that he was nearly five years ago – full of zest and quality, but allergic to defending, and immensely self-centered. Sure, without him this would have been a true blowout, but his goals only offer a thin mask over what has otherwise been a strange Madrid debut season.