Barca’s defensive frailties are forgotten
Barca have now kept five clean sheets in a row and only conceded once in their last seven matches. This comes after only keeping their opponents out twice in their first 13 matches of the season, and conceding four goals on three occasions.
Gerard Pique now looks back to his composed best and the defence looks more settled with the return of both Jordi Alba and Dani Alves. Madrid’s defence, on the other hand, looked fragile with new boy to the fixture Danilo and the relatively inexperienced Rafael Varane looking particularly shaky.
The prospect of Neymar, Suarez, Messi is scary
With Suarez and Neymar in such devastating form over the last couple of months, it is slightly terrifying to think how good Barca will be when Messi gets back to full fitness.
Barca introduced Messi for the last half-hour against Madrid, when they were already 3-0 ahead. But with him in the side it is hard to imagine anyone in Europe – let alone Spain – being able to stop Barca, especially now that they seem to have sorted out their defence.
Benitez under pressure already
Following the reigns of Jose Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti at Santiago Bernabeu, the appointment of Rafa Benitez was far from inspiring. His side is now six points behind its rivals after consecutive defeats against Sevilla and Barca and Madrid fans are already questioning whether he is the right man for the job – despite those being his only two defeats as Madrid boss.
The Madrid board are notoriously lacking on patience, so Benitez and his side will have to recover from the Barca thrashing quickly if he is to remain in the role.
What are your thoughts? Let us know by dropping a comment below via our Facebook comment box. Make sure you follow us on Twitter @Outside90 and like us on Facebook.
