On Monday, March 21st, 2022 Barcelona defeated the heavily favored Real Madrid at the historic Santiago Bernabéu Stadium with a final tally of 4 to 0 making a huge statement in Spanish LaLiga League.
Barcelona continued to gain their recent momentum under their head coach Xavi Hernández in the last “clásico” of the 2021 – 2022 European football season. The victory snapped Barcelona’s 5 – game losing streak to their rivals in Real Madrid as they preserved a very slight chance of still being able to fight for the Spanish LaLiga League championship following an extremely tumultuous beginning to their 1st – season since their former superstar, Lionel Messi, left town for another club as well as more money.
This Barcelona win was their first victory versus Real Madrid since 2019, and it comes in style like a some of the others Barcelona enjoyed in the past with Messi in his true playing prime.
Scoring Plays
It was Pierre – Emerick Aubameyang who had the match of his life this time for Barca as he scored 2 – goals in order to resume his great scoring run after being signed by Barcelona just in the nick of time during the final few minutes of the 2021 – 2022 winter transfer window. Ronald Araujo as well as Ferran Torres both scored a glorious goal of their own providing Barcelona their 7th – victory over the course of their previous 8 – contests throughout all competitions.
Barcelona had various other solid scoring chances during throughout this game, with Aubameyang, Torres, and Ousmane Dembélé some of the Barcelona players that ultimately missed on great scoring opportunities.
Karim Benzema who presently leads the Spanish LaLiga League’s scoring list with a total of 22 – goals was unable to participate in this highly – anticipated match due to a left – leg injury that he sustained recently during the Spanish League match versus Mallorca. During Real Madrid’s game against Mallorca Benzema was able to score a goal for the 8th – time over their last 5 – contests throughout all competitions.
The amazingly talented French – born striker recorded a hat trick in Real Madrid’s exhilarating come – from – behind victory versus Paris Saint – Germain approximately a week ago in the Champions League match that was played from the legendary Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.
Real Madrid’s head coach, Carlo Ancelotti, did not choose to swap out Benzema with another true striker as he decided to instead go ahead with Luka Modric in a false – nine position at the top of the attacking line for Real Madrid along with Vinícius Júnior as well as Rodrygo. Real Madrid barely was able to threaten against Barca last Monday, and Ancelotti was forced to change tactics during the 2nd – half of game action by putting Mariano Díaz up in front, although, that didn’t seem to help much either.
Media Statements
“Of course, we didn’t expect this score line, but we did everything we intended to do from the start,” Barcelona captain Sergio Busquets explained. “Everything went our way and we could have scored even more goals. If we have a minimum chance, we will keep fighting. We know it’s going to be hard, but in soccer anything can happen.”
“The result says it all,” says the Real Madrid defender Nacho Fernández. “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.”
“This can change the dynamic of the present and the future,” Xavi Hernández disclosed. “We hadn’t been having many reasons to celebrate in the recent past and today we made a statement. You can say we are on our way back. We competed against Real Madrid in their stadium and could have won by more goals. It was spectacular. This reinforces our project, reinforces our style, reinforces me as a new coach. There is no doubt this is how Barcelona has to compete.”
“We were able to play well behind the lines when their midfielders moved up and that allowed us to create many scoring chances,” Xavi goes on to say. “This victory gives us great confidence to keep working hard. We showed ourselves that we can compete against anyone. We have to stay humble. We didn’t win a title today. We celebrate now and then we have to start thinking about our next match.”
The Top of the 2021 – 2022 Spanish LaLiga League Table
This was a big – time statement victory for the third – placed club in the Spanish LaLiga League in the Barcelona football club. They are still 12 points behind the first – placed squad in Real Madrid though. Sevilla is in 2nd – place in the Spanish LaLiga League as Sevilla is 9 – points in back of the Spanish League leading Real Madrid.
Sources:
Azzoni, Tales. “Barcelona stuns Madrid 4 – 0 at Bernabéu to end losing streak”. The Associated Press. March 21, 2022.
Azzoni, Tales. “Barcelona makes statement with big win at Real Madrid”. The Associated Press. March 21, 2022.
ESPN News Services. “Spanish LaLiga Table 2021 – 22”. ESPN. March 22, 2022.