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“Whenever I emerge victorious they are unable to say anything,” Lamine Yamal previously stated, however this time he didn’t win and they closed in for him. They said he spoke too much; came the response that, indeed, they would see him outside; the message was talk is cheap. This included just the players: there was more from the preachers in their pulpits, individuals who never lose.

On the eve the clásico, the teenager who claims he abandoned nervousness behind in Mataró suggested that Real Madrid benefit from decisions and moan, or so it goes. He also offered a reminder that on his previous visit he had been the Santiago Bernabéu – as a youngster with blaugrana dental work, a glint in his gaze and a right foot they didn’t know he had – he beat them 4-0. Yet that was past and this was now. And, an adult currently, exactly a year on, he was beaten back. He knew, as opponents made sure.

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As the final whistle went on an intense, intense 262nd clásico that felt somewhat like past encounters, Lamine Yamal walked towards Madrid’s captain, offering a handshake. Instead of taking it, Madrid’s captain made the classic jibber-jabber motion. The match was challenging keeping up with everything that unfolded in over an hour and forty-five that went before, a match of 38 shots, three goals scored and additional efforts disallowed; now it was too much.

Suddenly appeared players everywhere, racing back and forth of sight and converging, security separating people away from each other. In the middle the melee, Madrid’s goalkeeper was accepting the offer to continue the dispute down the tunnel. The Brazilian forward was restrained, he telling another player as well they are too vocal. Barcelona’s winger hurried to intervene with his countryman, Antonio Rüdiger there too. “The scene resembled our young,” Aurélien Tchouaméni said.

Turning Point

In April, the French star had written: “They celebrate our losses as if our winning days are over. We will return stronger.” Real Madrid were defeated in the derby Spanish Cup final 3-2 after additional minutes, a collective breakdown greeting the final whistle, ice cubes flying. A fortnight later, they suffered another loss. In four clásicos, Madrid were defeated on each occasion, league, Copa del Rey and Super Cup won by their rivals. They had conceded 4, 5, three and 4. However there remains tomorrow and as it happened he was right.

On just one occasion had Barcelona previously secured five clásicos in a row, under Guardiola historic streak ending with that 5-0 versus Mourinho’s side, and it wouldn’t happen again. On Sunday, Madrid ended the coach’s unbeaten start in charge, beating Barcelona 2-1 to go a significant margin clear in first place of the table.

Significance

The Madrid squad had needed this. The celebration said so, players dancing together. Likewise, the crowd’s roar, their stadium louder and more edgy than on a clásico day for years: “amazing,” the English midfielder called it. Manager Xabi Alonso said so too. When questioned whether this was a weight off his shoulders, if existed a psychosis around important matches, an obsession, he shot back: “That’s you lot’s thing.” But he acknowledged that this was “not just a win, and where we come from and its importance to us; the boys needed the experience of securing a victory in a major fixture.”

In the previous campaign they failed to secure a win any. Fourteen times they were defeated: French side, Milan, Liverpool, Bilbao, city rivals, Sevilla-based, city foes, Valencia and London club all beat them. There wasn’t a single win against a truly big side. The previous manager went and succeeded by Alonso yet the trend persisted. The team won five games in the global tournament, signs of tactical organization developing, a game plan, however then came PSG.

Current Campaign

That defeat belongs to the prior year, the coach stated. But the next season, his term, started with a winning streak consecutively until Atlético visited and put five past them. The results were positive defeating newly promoted, island team and Osasuna but what about the big teams? Now at last they had beaten one of them too. Moreover it wasn’t just that Madrid won, but also the manner they won.

The opposition had players unavailable: backup keeper, young midfielder, attacking midfielder, Robert Lewandowski and defender were all missing. So too the winger, an important player might now be appreciated by his absence. Several players were not at 100%, defender and young forward among them. On the bench they had five players who not begun a league game, two more who featured only once; teenagers, four 18-year-olds and a couple who are 19. Plus a centre-back, Ronald Araújo, who finished the match up front again. Even head coach was absent, Hansi Flick banned and stuck in a commentary box. Marcus Sorg, his assistant, was on the touchline three times: he has lost all of them.

Game Breakdown

Much discussion focuses of Barcelona’s vulnerable high line, yet their offense struggled effectively on Sunday. Among comments that were said at the young player that day, perhaps the most revealing came from the Brazilian mid-match, taunting the teenager by telling him: “Your play is retreating balls.” As for that backline, leakier than before after Iñigo Martínez leaving, defensive intensity on opponents decreasing and coordination off, one opponent made multiple opportunities against them, another team five, Andalusian side 5, Girona three. Last year they trapped the French forward in an offside position eight times in a high-scoring game; yet, lost amid the defeats, was that in their most recent match he got a hat-trick, Madrid consistently positioned to get opportunities now.

Key Moments

Playing like this, especially. The match served as a beginning and also an end in itself. “In the future we will require a lot of our performance today,” the manager commented. The team had shots result in goals on five occasions – three ruled out for offside – failed to convert {a penalty|a spot-kick