Barcelona’s losing run against Real Madrid finally ended on Sunday as the Catalan club enjoyed a stunning 4-0 win at the Santiago Bernabeu and showed that their La Liga title hopes might not be over.
Barcelona kept their momentum going under coach Xavi in the last El Clasico of the season. The win ended Barcelona’s five-match losing streak to their archrivals and maintained their outside chance of the title after a difficult start to their first season without Lionel Messi.
The victory was their first against Real Madrid since 2019 and came in style — like a few others Barcelona enjoyed with Messi in his prime.
Photo: Reuters
It was Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang who thrived this time, scoring twice to continue his great streak since being signed in the final minutes of the winter transfer window.
Ronald Araujo and Ferran Torres added a goal each to give Barcelona their seventh win in their past eight matches in all competitions.
“Of course we didn’t expect this scoreline, but we did everything we intended to do from the start,” Barcelona captain Sergio Busquets said. “Everything went our way and we could have scored even more goals.”
The result moved Barcelona within 12 points of league leaders Madrid with nine matches to go, and they could further cut the gap to nine points if they wins their game in hand against Rayo Vallecano.
“If we have a minimum chance, we will keep fighting,” Busquets said. “We know it’s going to be hard, but in football anything can happen.”
Barcelona are level on points with fourth-placed Atletico Madrid and are three points behind second-placed Sevilla, who were held 0-0 at home against Real Sociedad earlier on Sunday for their third consecutive draw in the league.
Madrid, who badly missed the injured Karim Benzema, were unbeaten in their previous eight games in the league, with six wins. They had beaten their Catalan rivals 2-1 at the Camp Nou in the reverse fixture last year.
“The result says it all,” Madrid defender Nacho Fernandez said. “We played badly and they played well. Nothing worked for us. It was our first bad match this season. Maybe we were too relaxed because of our advantage in the standings.”
It was Madrid’s first home loss in 24 league games, since losing to Levante UD in January last year.
Barcelona have been revitalized by Xavi and their attack has been red hot, outscoring opponents 24-5 in their past eight matches, with Aubameyang and Torres combining for 15 goals since arriving at the club in January.
Aubameyang has now scored nine goals in his 11 appearances since arriving from Arsenal.
Elsewhere, fifth-placed Real Betis Balompie missed a chance to gain some ground after being held to a 0-0 draw at RC Celta de Vigo.
Manual Pellegrini’s team stayed four points behind Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, and two points ahead of Real Sociedad in a tight fight for the UEFA Champions League places.
Villarreal stayed three points behind Betis after a 1-0 loss at Cadiz, who are just outside the relegation zone.
RCD Mallorca stayed a point behind Cadiz after losing 1-0 at RCD Espanyol, their sixth consecutive defeat.
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