Barcelona 0-4 Real Madrid: Los Blancos' biggest Clásico win since 1995 seals superb comeback
After three successive defeats to their rivals, Carlo Ancelotti's side overturned a first-leg deficit in an impressive victory on Wednesday to advance to the Copa del Rey final
“Tomorrow, it’s our turn to win,” Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said on Tuesday. The Italian had been asked about his team’s three consecutive Clásico defeats to Barcelona prior to Wednesday’s Copa del Rey semi-final second leg at Camp Nou and responded with that defiant soundbite. According to reports in Spain, his words wound up Barça, but he was proved correct. Los Blancos did win – and in some style.
The teams’ previous meeting was won by Barcelona in added time last month and the Catalans were on top for most of the opening first half of this one. But Madrid took the lead right at the end of the opening period through Vinícius Júnior to level the tie at 1-1 after the Catalans had edged a low-quality match at the Santiago Bernabéu in early March. And after the break, there was only one winner.
Karim Benzema, fresh from his hat-trick in six and a half minutes against Real Valladolid on Sunday, followed up that feat with another treble here. The French forward superbly stroked the ball into the corner from the edge of the area following a pass from Luka Modrić five minutes into the second half, added a second from the penalty spot before the hour mark and completed his hat-trick with a simple finish on the break late in the game following a pass from Vinícius.
Benzema now has 16 goals against Barcelona and his return to form at the business end of the season is timely for Real Madrid. Meanwhile, this win was Los Blancos’ biggest in El Clásico since 1995 and the Frenchman’s hat-trick was the first for one of their players in the famous fixture since Ivan Zamorano scored three in that very match – a 5-0 win at the Bernabéu.
In recent years, even though trophies have been won by both teams, it has been Barça winning by bigger margins in El Clásico: 6-2 at the Bernabéu in 2009, 5-0 at Camp Nou in 2010, 4-0 away in 2015, 5-1 at home in 2018, 4-0 in Madrid last year.
So madridistas might see this win as long overdue. The last time their team beat Barcelona by four goals or more, half of their players had not been born. And now, all of a sudden, everything seems brighter for Los Blancos.
Defeat against Barça would have left Madrid looking to the Champions League once again to salvage their season, with the Blaugrana on course for a domestic treble. Real’s win on Wednesday has changed all that and Los Blancos will be favourites to beat Osasuna in next month’s final of the Copa del Rey, a trophy they have not won since defeating Barcelona at Mestalla in 2014.
Ancelotti was the coach then, too, and the Italian insists he wants to extend his second spell at Madrid beyond a second season. But he is also wanted by Brazil and may decide the time is right to move on. If he can win the Copa and add the Champions League as well, wouldn’t that be the perfect finale? Should that happen, though, he surely would be tempted to carry on.
“It was a complete match,” Ancelotti said afterwards. “The boiler has heated up again. When that happens, we do well. The first goal was important. It’s not vindication for me at all. I am lucky to coach a great club. We only changed a few details from the Clásicos we lost, which we shouldn’t have [lost].”
This fixture is rarely dominated completely by one team for too long. Barça won 4-0 at the Bernabéu last season to end a run of four straight defeats against Madrid; now Real have drawn a line under their three successive losses with a win by the same scoreline at Camp Nou.
Xavi had claimed before the match, somewhat surprisingly, that Real Madrid were favourites and the Barça boss was not too disheartened by the defeat. “Last year we won 4-0 and we didn’t win anything,” he said afterwards. “This year, we can win LaLiga.”
They should. Barcelona are 12 points clear with 11 rounds remaining and winning LaLiga, along with the Supercopa in January, would represent a successful season for the Blaugrana despite disappointment in Europe and the nature of this Copa defeat. FCB have also been stretched by injuries this term and were without Pedri, Frenkie de Jong, Andreas Christensen and Ousmane Dembélé on Wednesday.
After the match, Dani Ceballos aimed a dig at Barça. “The new era, the new era,” the Real Madrid midfielder shouted on his way back to the team bus. That was a reference to the movitational video posted by the Catalan club on their social networks ahead of the game. “The new era is here… and it’s Blaugrana,” the caption had read.
In reality, there is no reason why both of these teams – with some squad strengthening in the summer – cannot continue to be successful. Barcelona’s big priority next season will be to improve their results in European competition, while Madrid’s focus should be to compete better domestically.
But Wednesday’s win was a start for Los Blancos in that respect as they replicated their knack of producing memorable European comebacks, this time against their fierce domestic rivals at Camp Nou. And after some heavy defeats to Barcelona in recent years, it is a night which will live long in the memory of their fans.