Barcelona Thrash Real Madrid 4-0 In El Clasico

Luis Suarez scored a brace as Barcelona thrashed Real Madrid 4-0 in Saturday’s El Clasico, with Neymar and Andres Iniesta on target too.

“Real Madrid already have a new coach in Zidane, I believe it’s time to give him the opportunity, as Barca did with Pep Guardiola and Luis Henrique [sic]”.

“It hurts a lot to lose this way, especially to Barcelona”, Benitez said. “The result wasn’t so much because of great errors by Madrid, but due to our qualities”.

It didn’t matter. Messi joined the fray in the second half and at some point, that had to make a difference. You don’t see the players’ runs as well as you would like, you’re not fully aware of their tactical positioning, and on occasions you misjudge distances with things often appearing closer or farther away than they actually are.

“Our objective was what we have now, to win as many games as possible, even with situation at club”, Luis Enrique said.

“[On whether Madrid are out of the title race], no. We’re six points clear, but the season’s very long and Madrid are a great team”. Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale did not have any impact on the game.

Messi contributed to Suarez’s second goal with a pass to Jordi Alba which allowed the left-back to release Suarez on goal, and the striker smiled: “We wanted Leo to score a goal”.

With Lionel Messi only fit enough to start the match on the bench following an eight-week injury lay-off, Barca made light work of Rafa Benitez’s men. They have also won 10 of the last 15 league clashes between the two sides, meaning Madrid have only beaten their rivals three times since 2008. Iniesta, once more given the freedom of the final third, passed in to Neymar and, after the Brazilian back-heeled into his path, fired an unstoppable shot into the top corner.

Neymar tried to double the lead from a free-kick but could not beat Navas, while at the other end Claudio Bravo was equal to Madrid’s first attempt at goal, a strike from Rodriguez.