There seems to be no stopping Brazilian playmaker Neymar at the moment, and Barcelona is reaping all of the benefits.
Barcelona showed Real Madrid who is top dog in Liga BBVA on Saturday, dismantling its rival, 4-0, at Estadio Santiago Bernabéu.
Luis Suarez tallied a brace in the 263rd El Clásico, scoring the first and final goals of the game. The other two goal-scorers, however, were the crucial cogs in the Barcelona attacking machine on Saturday.
Andres Iniesta combined with Neymar, who backheeled the ball right into the path of his teammate. The 31-year-old Spanish midfielder powered his effort into the back of the net with conviction for the game’s second goal.
Neymar, who has been on an incredible run of form, scored the third of the evening. The rivalry game also saw the return of Argentine star Lionel Messi, who has been recovering ever since suffering a knee injury on Sept. 26.
Meanwhile, Chilean goalkeeper Claudio Bravo proved to be formidable in net, making seven saves against Madrid. One of his key stops came from a close-range header by Cristiano Ronaldo as the game approached its end.
Barcelona, which retains its first-place position on the Liga BBVA table, now has a comfortable six-point lead on its rival after 12 games played.
Here are more results from around the top leagues in Europe:
LIVERPOOL TRUMPS MAN CITY IN MANCHESTER
Real Madrid wasn’t the only top team from Europe to lose badly at home on Saturday.
Liverpool surprised Manchester City at Etihad Stadium, netting three goals within the first 32 minutes of play before finishing the job with a 4-1 road win.
Eliaquim Mangala scored an own goal after seven minutes, then Philippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino silenced the stadium after just 32 minutes.
Sergio Aguero scored a beautiful strike from just outside the top of the penalty box before halftime to apparently give Man City the momentum.
Jurgen Klopp’s men proved up to the task, however, and prevented the home side from staging a comeback. Martin Skrtel eventually volleyed in a late tally to conclude Man City’s disappointing day.
With the loss and other results from around the English Premier League, Man City falls into third place on the table. Liverpool, on the other hand, now sits in ninth — six points back of The Citizens.
BAYERN OVERPOWERS SCHALKE
Schalke put up a decent effort against the Bundesliga front-runner on Saturday, but Bayern Munich walked away with all three points all the same.
Pep Guardiola’s men took the lead before ten minutes had passed at Veltins-Arena, as a deflection helped David Alaba’s shot towards goal find the back of the net.
After receiving a pass from Leroy Sane, Max Meyer cut inside from the left wing moments later for Schalke and sent the stadium into a frenzy by curling a shot into goal to level the score.
Bayern was the better side in the second half, however, and Javi Martinez headed in the game-winner during the 69th minute. Thomas Muller put the final nail in the coffin with a goal of his own during stoppage time.
With the win, Bayern now has an eight-point lead over second place on the league’s table, while Schalke falls into seventh place.
Here are the results from the rest of Saturday’s action in Europe:
ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE
- Watford 1, Manchester United 2.
- Chelsea 1, Norwich City 0.
- Everton 4, Aston Villa 0.
- Newcastle 0, Leicester City 3.
- Southampton 0, Stoke City 1.
- Swansea City 2, AFC Bournemouth 2.
- West Bromwich Albion 2, Arsenal 1.
GERMAN BUNDESLIGA
- Eintracht Frankfurt 1, Bayer Leverkusen 3.
- FC Cologne 0, Mainz 0.
- VfL Wolfsburg 6, Werder Bremen 0.
- VfB Stuttgart 0, FC Augsburg 4.
- Borussia Monchengladbach 2, Hannover 96, 1.
SPANISH LIGA BBVA
- Real Sociedad 2, Sevilla 0.
- Espanyol 2, Malaga 0.
- Valencia 1, Las Palmas 1.
- Deportivo La Coruna 2, Celta Vigo 0.
ITALIAN SERIE A
- Bologna 2, AS Roma 2.
- Juventus 1, AC Milan 0.
FRENCH LIGUE 1
- Lorient 1, Paris Saint-Germain 2.
- AS Monaco 1, Nantes 0.
- Guingamp 2, Toulouse 0.
- Montpellier 3, Stade de Reims 1.
- Troyes 1, Lille 1.
What result surprised you the most? Is Barcelona the best team in Europe right now?
Share your thoughts below.
I recall a rather strident RM “fan” (who’d probably never left the US in his life) on here a few months ago defending the RM fans who harassed players as they left training and said Ancelotti should be fired despite winning the UCL in 2014. He said RM should win every trophy every year and if they didn’t the manager should be fired and anyone who thought otherwise simply didn’t understand RM.
Well that guy got his wish but it clearly hasn’t worked out and the spoiled children that are the RM fan base are now stuck with an inferior manager in Benitez – at least until he’s shown the door. They were playing at home against a Barca team missing the best player on the planet and still looked like they didn’t belong on the same field. Now Ronaldo is off to Man U in January?
Real Madrid fans own the team together with their fathers and grandfathers. They can manage it any which way they feel like it. I’m sure they’re devastated it doesn’t meet the expectations of some dude in American sitting on his recliner screaming at the internet.
They spend the most money of any team in the world and they rightfully expect success every year at every level. That’s their prerogative even if it doesn’t meet your ManU jersey wearing standards. That’s how they built the most successful sports franchise in the world.
BTW, Chicharito “the most overrated player ever” Hernandez scored two more yesterday. That makes 17 this season.
You should move on from soccer. It’s not your thing anymore.
while fans do own the team, it is not their money that is used when buying players, rather it is the country’s money since they borrow it from the government and banks. Second, maybe it is because the team spends so much money and they expect so much that they have underachieved for the last decade, when you have 5 of the most expensive players in the world they are almost guaranteed starters and that severely limits what the manager can do. This is what Ancelotti was very good at, as he was able to compensate his stars with players who were very good in their right but sacrificed themselves for the rest of the team (Xabi Alonso, Di Maria, Carvajal). Once they lost that stabilizing core, the team became extremely vulnerable to solid teams like Juventus and Atletico. So maybe the fans should not worry about the managers but on the way they do business.
I didn’t think you were the clueless strident fan I was talking about but you are a clueless strident fan. Of what I’m not sure other than El Tri. Hernandez is overrated and I’m sticking by that. 17 goals is more than he’s scored the past two seasons so why don’t we see if he keeps it up. He’s a good player just not as good as people seem to think.
Of course RM can do whatever they like. I assume they like winning but firing a guy 12 months after he wins the Champions League is childish. It obviously hasn’t worked because they just got blown away by their biggest rival at home without Messi even playing most of the match. And now Ronaldo wants to leave. That’s cool, they can go on and on with drivel about how they’re running with their grandfathers or some such nonsense while they watch Barca continue to win everything.
It’s childish for any team to expect to win everything every year but especially so for a team in a league with a rival that has just has much tradition, history and money. In the last 12 years since Del Bosque left, they’ve won La Liga three times and the UCL once. That’d be great for most teams but it’s pathetic underachieving from RM so their philosophy obviously isn’t working too well. Benitez is their 12th manager in that time. Barca had 5 (and would have fewer probably if not for Tito’s untimely death) and won 7 titles and 4 champions leagues. But I guess RM fans would rather spout nonsense about the team of the their grandfathers or whatever silliness you’re peddling.
I agree that for all American kids playing the beautiful game, Real-Barca should be mandatory viewing.
Barcelona is arguably the best, most dominant football team in our lifetime, Messi or no Messi, as we saw yesterday.
Too bad the advertising machine of the Premier League continues to brainwashing people into believing the PL is the best league in the world. The PL is very much infested with kick and run skill-less athletes with poor first touch and lack of tactical awareness.
I know there are a lot of Barcelona haters out there, but the “tiki-taka” style has conquered the world, you can’t argue with facts!
I was in full agreement right up to your use of the term tiki taka, which I believe is an English term because so few Brits can understand short-passing possession.
As for possession conquering the world, I don’t think it has really. It’s the most demanding skill-wise of the big three strategic approaches, so to even play it well you have to have extraordinary skills on your roster (which Barca has and Spain had). But possession is vulnerable to a good defensive shell as Inter showed in the CL a few seasons back, and as Spain saw against the U.S. in the Confeds Cup and against the Swiss in the following World Cup.
For some reason, modern teams are embarrassed to play a defensive shell, though it is widely known that is the way to gain advantage over possession. The Dutch, five years ago, knew the could approach that finals the same way Inter had in the CL. But they felt the need to ask permission of Cruyff, who (despite having more soccer intelligence than most) said ‘no way.’ He’d rather see his home country lose playing like Dutchmen than resort to what was considered a lowlife JM stunt. That’s the part of soccer I don’t get. In the NFL, if a passing team realizes it can win by running the ball, they do what they have to do. The win is what matters. In soccer, it isn’t enough to win.
Iniesta is might be the best midfielder of his generation. The way he has evolved his game to meet the teams demand is something to be praised. Technically he is superb, but it is in his commitment to the team and his willingness to sacrifice himself in covering for the forwards that make him the most complete midterm of his generation. I only hope that one day the US could produce a player like him, or even if he was just 75% like him ill be happy.
How many players has Spain produced like him? It’s not that easy or everyone would be doing it.
Iniesta is truly mesmerizing! A question: has there ever been EPL interest in bringing him to the EPL? Given his lack of goal scoring would he be as well known and recognized for his skills if he had started in the EPL. Just wondering?
If US fans are interested in seeing how the “beautiful game” is ideally played, they should watch the Barca-Real game. And if they’re further interested in how a game should be announced and appreciated they absolutely need to listen to BEIN announcer, Ray Hudson. Admittedly his descriptive approach will not be everyone’s cup of tea but the fact that not once in a game are we assailed by Taylor Twellman twaddle about formations, “pinching in”, etc is a major bonus. In fact, the entire BEIN announcing staff for La Liga games concentrates on the skills and missteps of the individual players. That aspect of the game of soccer is totally ignored by the buffoons announcing MNT and MLS games. It’s no wonder that we can’t develop skill players when US fans have no idea what skills are needed!!!
Please, Ray Hudson has passion but Taylor Twellman is a far better announcer. Not that that’s saying much. If you just want some guy screaming the whole game, then Ray’s your guy.
Also, your comment is like a parody of a eurosnob. Yeah, no one that watches MLS watches European leagues. We’re just a bunch of dummies who aren’t aware there are better leagues available on TV. Oh Real-Barca is a good game? Who knew? Thanks for enlightening us!
Thanks for the admission of your cluelessness! It saves time in deciding how to respond. Let’s see, anybody who thinks that there is much to learn from a Barca-Real game is a Eurosnob! Hmmm. Sounds a bit defensive and paranoid! Regarding Ray Hudson, your response reenforces my previous analysis but just to help out, I’ll elaborate. Taylor Twellman announces soccer games as if he was watching an NFL game, all X’s and O’s and formations whereas soccer prides itself on being called the “beautiful game” and it’s that perspective that Ray Hudson along with most of the la Liga announcers provides. Taylor’s perspective is also the perspective that most MNT and MLS announcers use—unfortunately! If all you’re looking for is a less violent version of thr NFL, I guess you’re happy! Good on ya!
Well…. yeah… Barcelona v. Madrid. Good game to watch….. and announce. No news there. Two teams absolutely littered with an embarrassment of riches in world class talent playing together in a long standing rivals grudge match.
Announcing is very much a matter of taste. What is an otherwise sound approach can be completely obliterated by a grating voice or personality. Visa-versa- lack of content can often be overcome and enjoyed with personality and style. Rare is the commentator who combines both! I would think that a thorough examination- reporting of a game would include the “individual skills and missteps” as they relate to the team, tactics/formation around them. After all- isn’t “the beautiful game” at it’s best ALL about the interplay of team/teammates- the interrelationship/melding of 11 individuals into a cohesive one? It’s why often a 2 announcer team works quite well with complimentary talent paired up.
I guess I prefer someone who analyzes what is happening on the field as opposed to someone who just yells and tells you how great everything is. Not sure how that makes me clueless.