Embarrassed In El Clasico: FC Barcelona Versus Real Madrid Result And What We Learned

On Saturday at the Camp Nou, FC Barcelona faced Real Madrid in El Clasico. Here’s the result, what happened, and what we learned from the domestic tie.

Koeman banked on youth with his lineup

Insisting yesterday that young people need to play in order to gain experience, the coach backed up his faith in this mantra by starting 17-year-olds Ansu Fati and Pedri.

Dropping Antoine Griezmann for the latter was a huge move, while Sergino Dest became the first American to start in club soccer’s biggest fixture ahead of Sergi Roberto.

The worst possible start

Philippe Coutinho caught ball watching, Karim Benzema laid a perfect pass into Fede Valverde’s path, which beat Gerard Pique in a wide-open defense and saw the young Uruguayan able to smash past a hapless Neto.

1-0 down after five minutes.

Ansu Fati responded in quick fashion

Tapping home from close range and assisted by Jordi Alba, the teenage sensation can now add scoring in El Clasico to his list of already lengthy achievements.

Unfortunately he missed becoming its youngest scorer by a few days, but can go home saying he netted the 400th goal for FCB against their bitter rivals.

As if to prove how bizarre and unpredictable 2020 is, Casemiro was booked

Hacking Messi, the skipper had just before had a nice shot on target saved comfortably by Thibaut Courtois.

Messi was brilliant in coming closer to goal

Fati and Philippe Coutinho working the ball nicely to him, Messi dribbled in the box and took the ball past Ramos before Courtois denied the Argentine at the Belgian’s near post.

End to end stuff

Immediately after, Benzema was blocked by Neto in the six-yarder. A thrilling tie thus far with less than 30 minutes gone on the clock.

Dest was strong in the tackle

On a dangerous run from Marco Asensio, the new signing from Ajax stood his ground and halted Casemiro coming to him at pace. In quick succession shutting down Vinicius Jr, the U.S. international had been outstanding up to this point.

Pedri not so much

Koeman showed courage in selecting the youngster, but he did not blow the afternoon away with just 10 out of 15 passes completed.

Possession had been in Madrid’s favor

It is not often that the visitors have more of the ball than Barça on their home turf. But the stats, as seen below, don’t lie.

All square at half time

Everything considered, 1-1 was probably a fair scoreline up until now. The action slowed down a little after a frenetic opening half hour, yet it was still fascinating. Both managers could be happy with their team’s contribution, though finding a winner was essential after the interval.

Fati came back roaring out of the tracks

Fooling everyone including Ramos when the pass was the easier option, Fati shot just past Courtois’ post.

Knocking a lovely ball over the top for Coutinho, the Brazilian should have headed home but could only hit the side-netting.

Dest has truly arrived

Between those chances, the right back demonstrated excellent footwork in turning inside and out of a trio of Real Madrid players. Skills to pay the bills.

VAR strikes again for Real Madrid

Ramos and Clement Lenglet both appeared to be pulling each other’s shirts waiting for a dead ball to come into the box, but around the hour mark, the technology once more worked in Los Blancos’ favor and the Spain skipper converted the resulting penalty.

Surprisingly, it was his first ever spot kick against Barça.

75 minutes and still no substitutes

Strange from Koeman to say the least, as his side chased the equalizer to no avail.

Vini Jr gave away a free kick in Messi territory when hacking Busquets

Blocked by the wall, it had turned into that kind of afternoon for the hosts.

Finally some switches

With nine minutes and stoppage time remaining, Koeman made a triple change in introducing Griezmann, Francisco Trincao and Ousmane Dembele.

A superb double save from Neto

Preventing Toni Kroos twice, the reserve keeper then kept out Sergio Ramos a move after.

Insult to inury

Neto drawn way out of his net, after rushing to meet Vini Jr, Modric maintained his cool and then slotted one into an almost empty goal with the outside of his boot.

Messi’s same old cheesed off expression told a story.

FC Barcelona are now winless in four

Failing to get three points since the away rout at Celta Vigo, their record reads one draw and two consecutive losses in their last La Liga outings.

Juventus await on Wednesday, and as seen against Ferencvaros, it is only by winning on the continent that the Blaugrana can boost morale.

Again, Koeman deserves credit for his bold selections. But Barça stopped performing and heads dropped following what proved to be the winner from Ramos. Also, substitutions came far too late to have any effect.