The reward of going nine points clear of Real Madrid was available to Barcelona ahead of this Clasico, as was the opportunity to make it a perfect 10 wins out of 10 since the start of the 2026/27 season.
Let’s take a look at three talking points from the game…
Martin’s error symptomatic of a wider malaise
When Gerard Martin looks back at the way in which Real Madrid opened the scoring in this game, he will be rightly disappointed.
His clearance, if you can even call it that, was pathetic.
With Kylian Mbappe bearing down on goal and the box heavily
populated in any event, that was the time to boot the ball into row Z. Nothing fancy, just get rid of it.
Instead, he just shook a leg at the ball, and it only needed to hit the Frenchman, who knew nothing about it, before hitting the back of the net.
That error was actually part of a wider squad malaise in a first half where only Anthony Gordon really emerged with any credit.
Too many wasted passes and 62 separate losses of possession in the opening 45 minutes, not enough positivity moving forward, and nowhere near enough physicality.
Not good enough at this level.
Gordon shows the way
On a night when a lot of Barcelona’s play was largely disappointing, Anthony Gordon, in his first Clasico, couldn’t have done an awful lot more to impress.
The wide man was barely offered any support across his 85 minutes, and had to carve any chances out himself, and it wasn’t really a surprise to note that he was the only Barca player to have ensured all of his shots were on target.
He consistently took the game to his direct opponent, lost the ball on only three separate occasions, had a squad-best 97.1% pass completion, and was a willing participant in every facet of play.
There was much to admire about a performance of a player that didn’t hide and used the undoubted pressure he would’ve felt to his advantage.
Midfield lethargy leaves a sour taste
It’s not the first time this season that culers have seen Pedri playing at a level below that which they’ve been used to, and against a physical side such as Real are, he might’ve expected some help from Rodri in this regard.
Here too, the Catalans were found wanting, with the Spanish World Cup-winning captain nowhere close to his usual authoritative self.
Whether one should begrudgingly doff their cap in Jose Mourinho’s direction for getting his tactics spot on is a stretch, though the Special One certainly did a number on Barca, like it or not.
When Bernardo Silva is getting the better of the likes of Fermin Lopez and his former Manchester City colleague, it’s back to the drawing board unfortunately.
