In arguably the most important Clásico in many years, Real Madrid emerged victorious with their first La Liga Clásico victory since 2016 and their most recent at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu since 2014. Barcelona returned to Catalonia a point behind their rivals with 12 games to play after a frustrating evening in the Spanish capital.
After an intense and end-to-end encounter in the first period, Real Madrid emerged far more threatening in the second half as they began to establish their foothold in the game. Vinícius Junior would be the man to open the scoring as his effort deflected off the leg of Gerard Piqué and would give Real Madrid the lead, becoming the youngest ever non-EU player to score in a Clásico, taking that record from Barcelonas very own Lionel Messi. Mariano Díaz would later come on as a late substitute to alleviate the pressure on his teammates, something he did to perfection as he doubled the lead within just 52 seconds of coming on in a stunning first La Liga appearance of the season.
This tactical analysis will consider the tactics used by Zinedine Zidane and his counterpart Quique Setién. This article will provide analysis of the tie. This La Liga fixture could have major complications for both Real Madrid and Barcelona come the end of the season as this tactical analysis will demonstrate.
Line-ups
Zinedine Zidane sprung a surprise by selecting Marcelo ahead of Ferland Mendy at left-back, with an otherwise expected line-up seeing Toni Kroos return with Luka Modrić dropping to the bench. Isco also kept his place in the side in attacking alongside Vinícius and Karim Benzema. On the bench, Mariano beat Luka Jović to a place in the squad.
Barcelona boss Quique Setién faced one major dilemma which was in attack as he opted to play Arturo Vidal ahead of recent signing Martin Braithwaite. Jordi Alba also made a comeback after an injury lay-off, Junior Firpo being the man to give up his spot in defence to make way.
