Luis Suarez netted a stunning hat-trick as Barcelona completely blew away Real Madrid at the Camp Nou to register an emphatic 5-1 win in the El Clasico on Sunday.
This drubbing at the hands of Barcelona thus piles more pressure on Julen Lopetegui who has had a poor time with Real Madrid so far. This humiliating result might just spell the end of his stay as the head coach of the Spanish giants.
Meanwhile, the scenes on the other side are bright and positive. Losing their star man Lionel Messi a week ago due to injury, Barcelona were set two difficult matches–against Inter Milan in the Champions League and the El Clasico. But they themselves wouldn’t have imagined that it would be so easy.
Against Inter, they cruised to a 2-0 win and the result in the El Clasico further highlighted a fact–while Barcelona can do without Messi, Real Madrid cannot without Cristiano Ronaldo.
Also read: UEFA Champions League: Real Madrid finally win one; beat Viktoria Plzen 2-1
It was Phillipe Coutinho who kicked off proceedings in style for Barcelona with a close-range finish in the 11th minute and soon the Catalan giants doubled their lead with a penalty from Suarez after the Uruguayan forward was brought down inside the Real Madrid box from a harsh challenge by defender Raphael Varane.
The 30th-minute strike from the spot left Thibaut Courtois fuming for he hadn’t expected his El Clasico debut to go so horribly wrong. Yet, he was unaware that there was more misery in store.
Trailing 0-2, Marcelo ignited hopes of a Real comeback when he scored one goal in the 50th minute to reduce the deficit. But Suarez’s menacing form was just too hot to handle for the Madrid club. New signing Arturo Vidal completed the punishment on Real Madrid with a header in the 87th minute to send Ernesto Valverde’s men at the top of the table with 21 points, one ahead of Atletico Madrid.
Real Madrid meanwhile have dropped to the ninth place with just 14 points from 10 matches.
Image credit- Mail and Guardian