La Liga leaders Barcelona won a tight and tense ‘Clasico’ 1-0 at Real Madrid on Saturday, beating their great rivals at their Bernabeu home for the second time in four days and moving a staggering 12 points clear of them in the standings.
Croatia international Ivan Rakitic struck the only goal of the game midway through the first half, delivering an ice-cool finish over Madrid keeper Thibaut Courtois after being played in by a clever pass by Sergi Roberto.
Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez were largely kept quiet in a shy display from the champions in which their defenders Gerard Pique and Clement Lenglet were the heroes instead, bravely putting their bodies in the way to snuff out Madrid, according to a Reuters report.
The victory, which followed Barca’s 3-0 win over Real in a Copa del Rey semi-final on Wednesday, gave them a 10-point lead at the top over Atletico Madrid, who visit Real Sociedad on Sunday, and effectively ended third-placed Real’s title hopes.
“We are all going to enjoy this night as not many teams can say they have won twice in four days at the Bernabeu,” match winner Rakitic told reporters.
“We worked very hard for this victory and we deserve it. You have to fight, you have to stick your leg in and we are very happy.”
The win also took Barca ahead of Real in the history books, with 96 wins in the ‘Clasico’ to their rivals’ 95, while they recorded four consecutive league wins away to Real for the first time.
Real were left to reflect on a third consecutive home defeat in all competitions for the first time since 2004 and now have only one realistic objective for this season — retaining the Champions League which they have monopolised since 2016.
Winning Europe’s biggest prize again could also be the last chance coach Santiago Solari has of keeping his job as even though his side played well here and in the Cup defeat, losing to Barca twice and falling 12 points behind them is not something Real Madrid tend to tolerate.
“Both games were very intense and we gave a huge effort in both. We had chances, but when you cannot find a goal things slip away from you,” said Real captain Sergio Ramos.
“It’s obviously a huge step for Barca, and unfortunately the title is getting out of our reach, but we’ll keep fighting until the end.”
