The most recent match between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid has been the most anticipated of their meetings. There was a lot of excitement for this El Clasico because both teams had destroyed two of the Premier League’s most elite teams in their previous games. In the end, nevertheless, FC Barcelona had the decisive score.
It was evident that they were not playing about with this Madrid squad after La Blaugrana scored four goals in the second half. As Lamine Yamal has noted, Barcelona actually did not want to stop scoring even when they had a two-goal lead.
This natural desire to continue pursuing their injured opponent was just what Barcelona needed to win this match. But in contrast to the second half, Barcelona’s first forty-five minutes were a little nervous, and they occasionally even struggled because of their own high line.
However, at halftime, Hansi Flick gave his squad two clear instructions, which caused the game to drastically change in the second half. These directives would ultimately enable Barcelona to absolutely destroy the host team at the Santiago Bernabeu and shift the tide of the match, as SPORT pointed out.
The first piece of advice was to become less afraid of the ball and to quit panicking when in possession of it. In the past, this had already caused them issues because Real Madrid nearly always took advantage of it, but Barcelona wounded Los Blancos as much as they could in the second half with a more composed performance.
Second, Flick instructed the group to single out and discipline Lucas Vasquez in the Real Madrid defense. Dani Carvajal was their most visible weak point at the back due to his injury, so Flick wanted to make sure Raphinha made the most of it.
Both of those directions turned out to be ideal in the end. Barcelona was able to pick out passes that would put its strikers in advantageous situations since they had more control over the game, particularly after Frenkie de Jong entered.
When Real Madrid gave up the first goal, Vasquez and Ferland Mendy were both out of sync with the rest of the backline. He was also directly responsible for Barcelona’s next two goals through Lamine Yamal and Raphinha because he was unable to stop the Brazilian forward, which led to a 4-0 thumping by the end of the game.
