MADRID (AP) — Barcelona entered the latest clasico as the team to beat in Spain, having played entertaining soccer from the start of the season and coming off a big win over Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
And there was no letdown Saturday for Hansi Flick's team, leaving its biggest rival Real Madrid searching for answers after being humiliated at home.
With an attack that continued to click and a near-perfect defensive tactic, the Catalan club reinforced its status by routing Madrid 4-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium to increase its lead at the top of the Spanish league and gain added momentum following an already fast start under Flick.
“We already showed against Bayern that we are a great team,” said Barcelona forward Lamine Yamal, who scored one of his team’s goals. “We believe in ourselves, now people just need to see it.”
That goal made Yamal the youngest scorer in a clasico at 17 years, 105 days, surpassing teammate Ansu Fati, who was about 250 days older in October 2020.
Barcelona has been dominant since the start of the season, with 12 wins and only two losses — at Monaco in the Champions League and at Osasuna in the Spanish league. It was coming off a 4-1 win over Bayern Munich in the European competition.
The team's attack — led by Yamal, Raphinha and league-leading scorer Robert Lewandowski — has been virtually unstoppable, having outscored opponents 47-12 in all competitions.
Barcelona has scored four or more goals in seven of its 14 matches, including a 7-0 rout of Valladolid in the Spanish league and a 5-0 win over Young Boys in the Champions League.
The defense came through to contain Kylian Mbappé in his first game against Barcelona as a Madrid player. He was one of the many Madrid players to be caught by Barcelona’s offside traps throughout the match.
The synchronized traps limited Madrid's chances as its forwards kept failing to correctly time their breaks behind the defenders and found themselves in offside positions.
Barcelona is already six points ahead of Madrid in the Spanish league after 11 matches.
“This is what we want to do, it’s our philosophy,” said Flick, who replaced former Barcelona great Xavi Hernández this season. “We want to go on, step by step, game by game.”
Barcelona's most recent victories helped the club end two losing streaks — it had lost six straight against Bayern and four consecutive against Madrid.
Real Madrid's woes
Madrid, the defending league champion and Champions League title-holder, has not played its best soccer recently, having lost twice in its last five games.
The other defeat came at Lille in the Champions League to end a 36-game unbeaten run in all competitions. It hadn't lost in the Spanish league in 42 straight games, falling one short of a joint record with Barcelona, which went 43 matches without defeat in the competition in 2016-17 and 2017-18.
Madrid also struggled early in its Champions League match against Borussia Dortmund, when it was losing 2-0 at halftime before rallying impressively to win 5-2.
Carlo Ancelotti's team was booed by the home crowd both against Dortmund and against Barcelona.
“We have to pick ourselves up quickly and correct the mistakes of the second half. We have to keep competing and fighting,” Ancelotti said.
“We have to look at what happened. You learn a lot of things from a defeat, self-criticism is fundamental and we have to do it, but we mustn’t throw everything away. The team’s first half was good and I’m not wrong about that, I’ve been coaching for 48 years.”
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Tales Azzoni, The Associated Press
