Three Reasons Why Real Madrid Lost the El Clasico
The noise surrounding the final El Clásico for the 2024-25 La Liga season lived up to the hype in a 7-goal thriller. And it was Hansi Flick’s Barcelona, who won 4th successive match against Real Madrid. This marked significant progress as Flick became the first manager since Pep Guardiola between 2008 and 2010 to manage 4 or more consecutive wins over Real Madrid.
This latest El Clasico Victory was significant for Barcelona as it put them 7 points clear of Real Madrid and ensured Barcelona coasted to its 28th La Liga title in remarkable fashion.
Indeed, it was the first time in the El Clásico that Barcelona headed into the half-time break with a two-goal lead, coming back from two goals down. Kylian Mbappe shone in the match with a hat-trick, taking his season tally to 38 goals. He has now overtaken the record previously held by Ivan Zamorano (37 goals in 45 games) back in the 1992/93 season.
The French international, who was awarded the best French player abroad, has scored 5 times against Barcelona this season but is yet to be on the winning side since joining Real Madrid. Mbappe’s manager Carlo Ancelotti, has now lost 12 out of 25 overall meetings with Barcelona, which is also the most defeats suffered against an opponent in his entire managerial career.
Analysing the Barcelona vs Real Madrid Result from the Los Blancos’ point of View
As an analyst, there were plenty of talking points in the game, but the following are the three major factors that affected the result.
Defensive Frailties
Barcelona produced over 20 shots, with 9 on target, with the match ending 4-3 in favor of Barcelona. Raphinha scored twice on the day, but it could have been more, with the Brazilian forward missing a few good chances. Real Madrid had also conceded 33 goals in LaLiga before the game kicked off, their worst defensive record at this stage of a campaign since 2018/19 (38 goals).
Real Madrid were simply all over the place, and Italian tactician Ancelotti highlighted the defensive errors as the major reason Real Madrid lost the tie to Barcelona:
“We made some glaring mistakes that cost us several goals, In high-level matches against top opponents, you need to be on top of your game. We played well in attack but it’s clear we can improve a great deal on defence.”
Any team in the world would struggle without key defenders like Rudiger, Militao, Carvajal and even David Alaba, but what is expected from a team like Real Madrid is to have Fight in them, and they lacked it. Real Madrid’s right back on the day Lucas Vázquez won 60 per cent of his tackles, he made an error that led to a goal.
The Madrid veteran symbolised the entire Madrid Backline as they were weak in the duels compared to Barcelona, who are younger and appeared superior, winning 54.9 per cent of duel,s helping them overturn the 2 goal deficit.
Weak Midfield
The Real Madrid Midfield seemed to dissipate in the aftermath of Kylian Mbappe’s early brace, the quartet of Arder Guler, Valverde, Dani Ceballos and Jude Bellingham were run through by the Barca Midfield anchored by Pedri and Frenkie De Jong.
Barcelona concluded the game with 62 percent ball possession with 27 touches in Real Madrid box compared to just 6 from Los Blancos, Pedri alone made 42 passes in the first half, 40 were accurate. Pedri had 89 touches, made 13 final third entries, won 7 duels, created 3 chances and had the assist, it was the tonic needed to tear Real Madrid apart.
The trio of Pedri, Frenkie De Jong and Dani Olmo posted a pass accuracy in mid-90s compared to Bellingham, Guler and Ceballos with a pass accuracy of mid-70s. Spanish Publication Marca labelled Bellingham “A key player in Real Madrid Midfield Collapse” as he managed to complete just 24 passes, attempting just one dribble and lost possession 14 times in the clash. Only Ferran Torres did not commit a foul in the entire game for Barcelona, meaning the entire team was ready for the battle, unlike Real Madrid.
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Barcelona psychological Superiority
This season alone, Real Madrid has conceded 16 goals against Barcelona, en route to losing the Spanish Super Cup final, the Copa Del Rey final and what now looks to be a La Liga title also
Following Barcelona’s Copa Del Rey 3-2 win over Real Madrid, Teenage sensation, Lamine Yamal said:
“No matter how many goals Madrid score, it doesn’t matter, they just can’t beat us this year”It speaks Volume of the confidence within the young Barcelona squad compared to Real Madrid who were reportedly angry with the comments made by Yamal, instead of using such comments to motivate the squad it appears it has led to a mental block.
Real Madrid are used to being the masters of mental fortitude and come backs but they are appear broken by this young Barcelona team destined for greatness, Flick has promised to make them even better in defence next season, Real Madrid will hope the coming of Xabi Alonso will make them overcome the Barcelona Hoodoo that threatens their very existence.
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