Aubameyang after inspiring El Clásico victory: ‘This is the beginning of the new era’
The world did not expect such a thiller in El Clásico: Barcelona thrashed the La Liga leader and principle rival Real Madrid right at the seemingly undefeatable Santiago Bernabeu, thereby breaking their 24-match unbeaten streak at home.
The main loss of Real before the derby was a key Karim Benzema, Carlo Ancelotti was informed about it just the day before the match.
Even Xavi spoke out about Benzema’s absence. The Barcelona coach did not answer in the “no one is irreplaceable” way, but admitted it was a problem for Madrid:
“Benzema is one of the best ‘nines’ in the world. It’s a huge loss, but it won’t change our approach to the game. But it might change Real Madrid’s approach.”
As a result, after some hard reflection, Ancelotti replaced Benzema with… nobody. The team came out to play without a centreforward. Moreover, the main left-back, Ferland Mendy, was also absent. It affected not only the attacking performance but also the whole picture of Los Blancos’ game.
Still, many saw the Royal Club as the favorite in this encounter, but the Catalans are not the whipping boys. In fact, it took only 53 minutes to completely decide the outcome of the game.
Barcelona netted four goals: in the 29th, 38th, 47th and 53rd minutes. First, Ousmane Dembele assisted twice, and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (following a cross from the flank) and Ronald Araujo scored from a corner. The third goal was a masterpiece with Aubameyang’s heel pass to the onrushing Ferran Torres with a perfect shot into the top corner. The fourth goal was an elegant chip shot by Aubameyang after Torres’ pass – he was on the verge of offside, but VAR said it was clear.
As for the stats, it speaks for itself:
- Barça were not embarrassed by the visiting stands and immediately took the ball (62% to 38%), without the ball they successfully pressed and created chances.
- The Catalans also outshot their opponent: 12 vs. 4 (7 vs. 2 on target).
- The expected goal difference registered a 2.94 vs. 0.56. It seems that Barça was excellent in the realization of moments, but there is another statistic: on goal chances the count is 7-0 – Xavi’s team missed four obvious opportunities to score.
- For Aubameyang, Real Madrid is a special client. The Gabon international has scored in each of the last five meetings against Madrid (6 goals). So he became the first player to score in five consecutive matches against Real Madrid in the 21st century.
- And Dembele in this match just proved that he is a great distributor of assists if he comes out with a good attitude. In 2022, the Frenchman gave the most assists (seven) of any player in the top five, followed by Leo Messi and Benjamin Bourgeault with six.
One could disregard the statistics – but the visual perception of the game is quite consonant with the numbers. Xavi set up a mechanism in such a way that it worked absolutely perfectly: well-established structure of possession, pressing and counter-pressing, as well as point-to-point adaptations to the opponent.
- Aubameyang was constantly finding room to shoot – both after passes from the wings and after cutting from deep. He was winning the aerial duels, he was always the first on the ball. He allowed himself the luxury of playing for his partners even when he was in the finishing position.
- Torres mocked Carvajal and constantly caught him at his lack of speed. He was dribbling, overtaking, twisting, sharpening and shooting. It’s scary to think what would have happened if he had realized all this shots well.
- Pedri orchestrated accurate crosses – both from the center of the field, and closer to Real’s penalty area. Master.
- Dembele didn’t seem to be so prominent on the pitch in terms of amount of work done, but he was the one who gave assists on the first two goals. And in the same fashion – precise serves to the head.
- Barcelona looked like a solid team. Ter Stegen were launching attacks with accurate passes, Sergio Busquets was both accelerating and slowing the pace when it was needed, and Jordi Alba was helping Torres.
It was a rare occasion when Real Madrid really didn’t have a chance.
Barcelona boss Xavi Hernandez believes his men were a head above and could have made the score even more devastating:
“I don’t know if we can win the title, we can’t rule out anything. Maybe we’re a bit late, but this is a very big win for us. We were much better than Real Madrid. We played almost as a home team in the the ground. It’s a day to enjoy, not only as a Barca manager but also a fan. We could easily have scored five or six. We changed our negative dynamic of losing the last few Clasicos.”
“We are very far from winning the league but, okay, we need to believe: this is the way. We showed everybody that we are coming back,”
Xavi said about the current state of mind.
“If we still have a small chance to make a run for the title, we will fight until the end. It’s very difficult but in football anything can happen. We are Barca.”
Barca midfielder Sergio Busquets added.
The former Arsenal captain is inspired by the restart of his career after his move to Barcelona and believes that this victory heralded the dawn of a new era for the Blaugrana.
“We’ll see where we can go from here after this big victory. I was very excited to come to Barcelona and do well. It’s very easy when you play with such good players.”
Man of the Match Aubameyang said.
The whole world recognized that this level of football is certainly reminiscent of the good old Barca.
One of the most experienced players of the current squad is very happy about what’s going on:
Carlo Ancelotti admits that the defeat is disappointing, revealing what exactly went wrong:
“We started the second half trying to play one against one at the back – three defenders against their three forwards – but it didn’t work. I can only apologise to the fans. It’s a very tough blow to lose this way.”
“We know we have a good lead at the top of the table. We can’t make dramas about this game – we have to move forward. In the next two weeks we need to rest and prepare well. Today’s defeat was my fault, the coach’s fault.”
The Italian сoach takes the blame and сalls not to focus on this setback.
It is important not to go to extremes when assessing. The match definitely confirmed the rapid progress of Barça under Xavi. It is a demonstration of the excellent work done – all the mechanisms that led to the successful series worked yesterday. At the same time, the visitors avoided major adaptations (except for the move to the right with Araujo) – they played their own football.
Ancelotti both at the beginning of the match and at the beginning of the second half tried to invent counter moves for the opponent. They turned out to be terrible. Both times, it was not just a matter of tactical peculiarities but the inability to deliver them. This was confirmed by Courtois, who said that the team did not understand the setup at half-time, and by Ancelotti himself, who pointed out that after the start the team did not stick to his plan.
- Only Memphis Depay (10 goals) has scored more than Aubameyang (nine) and Torres (five) for Barcelona this season.
- Real Madrid remains in first place in La Liga and has full control of the title race, with a 9-point lead over its closest pursuer, Sevilla.
- According to the supercomputer FiveThirtyEight, despite the fact that Barcelona outperformed Real Madrid in El Clasico, Barcelona has virtually no chance of winning La Liga this season. Real Madrid is still the favorite to win the league with a 90% probability, according to the machine. Barcelona has a paltry 8 percent chance of winning.