On one side of El Clásico, there was Kylian Mbappé. There were Vinicius Jr. and Jude Bellingham. There were the reigning European champions, the latest wave of Galácticos, the most feared attack in soccer, the reason Real Madrid were overwhelming favorites to win La Liga.
And on the other, the Barcelona side, there was zero fear.
There was, instead, a bold offside trap that foiled and frustrated Real Madrid; and, in the second half, there was Robert Lewandowski.
Lewandowski scored twice in three minutes Saturday to silence Madrid’s palatial Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, and break open the season’s first Clásico. Barca’s teen sensation, Lamine Yamal, eventually added a third. Soon thereafter, Raphinha sealed a deserved 4-0 victory.
But the story of the game unspooled in a fascinating first half. Again and again, Real Madrid raced forward. And again and again, Mbappé was thwarted by a strategy that, pundits insisted, Barcelona wouldn’t dare employ.
Under German manager Hansi Flick, Barca has pressed and squeezed opponents into submission. Forwards have hunted the ball. Defenders have held a perilously high line that restricts space in front of them, and allows Barca to play 90 madcap minutes on the front foot.
But if they did that against Mbappé and Vini, the thinking went, with so much space behind them, they’d be punished.
“If they play like that, they’ll concede goal after goal after goal,” ESPN color commentator Steve McManaman warned as the game got underway.
Barca, though, never flinched. They not only “played like that,” they played the high line perfectly. They caught Real Madrid offside eight times in the game’s first 36 minutes. (Eight! In 36 minutes!)
Mbappé scored, but VAR overturned the goal because he was off by half a body length.
Vini broke the trap once, but dragged his shot wide of the near post — and that was the only shot Real Madrid managed in the first half.
Mbappé finally beat the trap in the 71st minute, but his shot was saved.
And by then, Barca’s rampant attack, the best in Europe over the past two months, had undone Real Madrid. Lewandowski beat a sloppy offside trap for his first. The four goals took Barcelona to 37 in 11 games. And the victory took them five points clear atop La Liga.