Barcelona’s recent dominance in El Clásico

We’re well over the halfway stage of this season’s La Liga campaign and what started out as surprising mixed bag of results and potential contenders has turned into a fairly predictable two-horse race. Real Madrid top the table with 49 points, with bitter rivals Barcelona just three points behind. The latest football betting odds may favour Los Blancos to win the title, but they still have to host Barça on March 1^st.

The first El Clásico match of this season took place on 18^th December at the Camp Nou – a more vibrant affair than the drab 0-0 scoreline suggested. The visitors came closest, with Gareth Bale’s goal ruled out for offside and the stalemate was the first between the two since November 2002. But in recent history, Real’s record in the clash is far from enviable – something to consider if you’re after betting tips on football.

Barcelona have been dominant – winning six of their last 10 El Clásico meetings in the league. You would also need to go back as far as the 2015-16 season to the last time that Real were successful in a La Liga El Clásico match. Read on as we look back at three of Barcelona’s most dominant displays in El Clásicos of recent seasons.

2018-19: Suárez hat-trick

A humiliating defeat for Real saw manager Julen Lopetegui sacked, after a run of five games without a win. Barça were rampant as Luis Suárez scored a hat-trick and the home side completely outplayed and outclassed their rivals.

Philippe Coutinho opened the scoring and the first of Suarez’s goals came on the half hour mark, coolly converting a penalty after VAR decided that Raphael Varane had fouled the Uruguayan in the box.

Their lead was halved early in the second half, when Marcelo scored, but a further two goals from Suárez secured the win. The rout was complete moments later, through Arturo Vidal’s header.

The win saw Barça two points clear at the top, with the other side of Madrid: Atlético in second.

2015-16: Brutal at the Bernabéu

If the last defeat was humiliating for Real, this one surely tops it – it doesn’t get much worse than losing by four goals on home soil.  This is exactly what happened when Barcelona travelled to the Bernabéu in November 2015.

It was a first home defeat in 23 league games for Rafa Benitez’s side but it would have been a difficult defeat to take, especially as it saw Barça go six points clear at the top of the table.

Much talk pre-match was on the return of Lionel Messi to the Barcelona bench, but the club hadn’t struggled in his absence – and Suárez opened the scoring, before Neymar’s side-foot gave the visitors a two-goal lead going in at the break. Andrés Iniesta added a third, before Suárez added to his tally.

The bad news continued for Real, when Isco was given his marching orders six minutes from time – his rash lunge on Neymar adding to frustrations.

2010-11: Barça hammer home

We go back as far as the beginning of the last decade for our final match. Not only was it Barcelona v Real, it was Messi v Ronaldo as the world’s two greats were battling to come out on top. It was Barça and the pint-sized Argentine (with no goals, but two assists) that came away victorious.

Xavi gave the hosts the lead in the opening 10 minutes, with Pedro doubling their advantage shortly after. A brace from David Villa in three minutes extended Barça’s lead further, while Jeffrén made it a five-star team performance with their fifth goal of the night to give José Mourinho his biggest defeat as a manager – a record that still stands to this day. Often the hero but this time the villain, Sergio Ramos was also dismissed in stoppage time to compound the misery on Los Blancos.

After the match, director Florentino Pérez called it “the worst game in the history of Real Madrid”.

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