1. Barcelona will have to hope that their defending was just a disturbing one-off
Barcelona’s defending was very poor for a side that had gone for more than eight games without conceding a single La Liga goal. The Catalan giants made a lot of defensive mistakes which could have made the scoreline worse than it was.
Gerrard Pique was the first culprit as he unnecessarily bundled over Karim Benzema in the box and got away with it. Barcelona followed that up by allowing Cristiano Ronaldo a free header when he attacked a corner kick in the opening half.
They soon began paying for their defensive mistakes as Pique conceded a penalty which led to Real’s equaliser, Pepe scored after he was also allowed a free header in the box and Andreas Iniesta’s lazy touch directly led to Real Madrid’s third goal.
Even their dream forwards cannot bail them out if they keep making errors like this.
2. Luis Enrique lost his gamble
Enrique made a couple of surprising selections to try to get the better of Los Blancos in his first El Clasico as a Barcelona manager, but most of them did not pay off.
Centre-back Jeremy Mathieu misplaced a lot of passes in the offensive half after starting at left-back ahead of Jordi Alba because of his height advantage.
Sergio Busquets joined the group a day before the game after missing out in midweek with a calf injury and Xavi was supposed to add fluidity in possession by replacing the more robust Ivan Rakitic in central midfield.
The attacking advantages that these changes brought in central midfield were outweighed by the defensive price the team paid as Barca ooked noticeably more open when defending.
3. Cristiano Ronaldo edged Lionel Messi in their duel
These superstars were both not at their best on the night as Neymar and Karim Benzema were actually the best attacking players for each side. There is always a mini-Ballon d’Or contest at stake when these sides meet though and in that regard, Ronaldo won more points as he influenced the game better.
Messi unbelievably missed a glorious chance to score a seemingly simple tap-in, his set pieces were poor and he struggled to get back into the game after he was booked early on.
Ronaldo also had problems, especially with his passing, in the final-third but he looked sharper and he scored a perfect penalty.
4. Luis Suarez showed promising signs but he lacks match sharpness
Suarez was always going to have a difficult time keeping up with the pace of the game after four months without featuring in any competitive fixture, but the Uruguayan had a decent performance. He assisted Neymar’s goal by brilliantly switching play to the Brazilian and could have recorded his second assist of the game when his low cross only needed a tap-in from Messi.
That South American dream team forward line showed signs that they will complement each other perfectly in future; Neymar and Suarez can run in behind defences while Messi will thrive on the space they leave between the lines when they stretch defences.
They will certainly wreak havoc in both the La Liga and the Champions League when Suarez regains his match sharpness.
5. Isco’s form and attitude is one of the biggest positives for Real Madrid this season
Isco has had to fill in for Gareth Bale as the Wales international is out with a thigh injury. The young Spaniard was one of the best players for Real Madrid in this game and at Anfield as well.
He works hard for the collective good of his side. Like Ancelotti recently said, Isco understands that when Bale is available he will have to drop out of the starting XI but his attitude when he plays is invaluable.
