There was a lot to like about Barcelona’s performance in El Clasico on Saturday – except the result obviously.
Xavi Hernandez’s side dominated large periods of the game at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys, but ultimately fell short due to the sheer brilliance of Jude Bellingham.
Barca took a deserved lead through Ilkay Gundogan in the sixth minute, but two second half goals from Bellingham proved to be the difference between the two sides.
The defeat sees Barcelona go four points behind their arch rivals, and La Liga leaders, Los Blancos in the table.
Here’s Barca’s best and worst players in the loss, according to 90min’s player ratings:
Gavi: 8/10
There aren’t many players who’ll get the better of Jude Bellingham for one minute this season, let alone 68.
Although Bellingham did go on to win the game for Real Madrid, for 68 minutes on Saturday Gavi had the beating of arguably the best footballer in the world right now. The 19-year-old man-marked Bellingham impeccably, making a number of fantastic tackles to keep the England international at bay.
And while, ultimately, he couldn’t quite finish the job, Gavi deserves plenty of praise for his 10 dual wins, nine ball recoveries and four successful tackles in El Clasico on Saturday.
Honourable mention
Ilkay Gundogan: 7/10
Despite the defeat, there were actually plenty of Barca players who deserve a mention for their decent performances.
Ronald Araujo kept Vinicius Junior quiet (as he always does), Andreas Christensen was solid as well, but we’re reserving our special ‘honourable mention’ for goalscorer Ilkay Gundogan.
As well as bagging his first ever Barcelona goal, the ex-Manchester City was generally very effective in the middle of the park, completing an impressive 94% of his passes.
Ferran Torres: 5/10
Put simply, the reason Barcelona didn’t beat Real Madrid was because their front three underperformed.
Ferran Torres, although he worked hard, failed to provide Barca any cutting edge while they were in the ascendancy in the game.
The fact that he didn’t muster a single shot on goal during his hour on the pitch tells you all you need to know really.
Dishonourable mention
Joao Cancelo: 5/10
Another one of Barcelona’s misfiring forwards on Saturday, Joao Cancelo gets a bit of a pass for being played out of position.
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