Did Real Madrid deserve 'el Clásico'?

The great 'el Clásico', arguably one of football's greatest fixtures, lived up to its expectations after a thrilling match at Montjuïc Stadium. 'Los Blancos' snatched three points in the dying minutes of the game to secure a remarkable 1-2 comeback over FC Barcelona! A fair result? Let's see what the experts have to say.

Real Madrid's victory was witnessed by two exceptional guests at Montjuïc Stadium: Mick Jagger and Ronnie Woods! They were invited to the game as part of a sponsorship deal with the legendary British rock band. The iconic tongue logo was added to the FC Barcelona shirt for the fixture.

A large section of the Spanish sports press agrees with Xavi Hernández's diagnosis: Barcelona dominated the pitch for 60 minutes, however, just as Ernest Folch reminded Xavi in an article published in Sport: "Matches last 90 minutes."

In Ernest Folch's article, he analyzed what went wrong for Xavi, and the first mistake was the decision to replace Barcelona's young and ambitious talents with the old guard.

Ernest Folch writes: "Barça had the game well on track when the team was supported by Gavi and Fermín, two boys aged nineteen and twenty, due to exhaustion and bad decision making, they began to lose control, they were subbed off the pitch for more experienced players like Lewandowsky, Oriol Romeu and Raphinha, who ironically made the team worse,"

However, there are many who are not surprised by Real Madrid's relentless efforts, which materialized into a remarkable comeback. They shifted up a gear once they noticed their opponents were begging to crack. The "Bellingham factor" kicked in, and the young English midfielder snatched a major victory for his club.

In an article written by Manu de Jaun and Fernando S. Tavero (AS), they analyzed that Bellingham "did not even need to play his best football at Montjuïc, he was missing for 69 minutes." Nevertheless, Real Madrid's 'Peaky Blinder' tore a couple of holes in Ter Stegen's net!

Something is going on in Xavi's locker room, and it's unsettling world-class champions like German Gilkay Gündogan: "I didn't come to lose like this."

According to various sports media, Gündogan said that he would like to see "more anger and disappointment" in the Barcelona squad. A little wake-up call for both teammates and coaches. He didn't come to Barcelona to make friends, he came to win. It is a century-long rivalry!

In any case, there is a feeling in the Spanish sports press that both Real Madrid and FC Barcelona are not going through their best moment and that the match was lackluster.

The relationship between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid is not at its greatest, after Joan Laporta's statements against Real Madrid following his implication with the 'Negreira Case'. Real Madrid's president, Florentino Perez, did not attend the game. The tension was palpable both on the pitch and on the stands.

Ramón Besa, a football veteran and sports analyst for the newspaper El País, described this Saturday's Barcelona as "tender and lazy" while Real Madrid was "passive, without much aggression."

Ernest Folch summed it up in Sport as follows: "The worst Madrid in recent years won the worst 'Clasico' in recent years." Maybe. The reality is, Real Madrid is now sitting four points above Barcelona, leading La Liga.