The 'tiger trio' Lewandowski, Raphinha and Lamine Yamal all shined to help Barca beat host Real Madrid 4-0 in the El Clasico (super classic) round 11 of La Liga.
36-year-old striker Robert Lewandowski scored twice in two minutes, Yamal became the youngest player to score in El Clasico history, and Raphinha also scored against Real Madrid for the first time. Barca's three attackers sent many Bernabeu fans home early, preventing Carlo Ancelotti's team from achieving an unbeaten record.
Before the match, Real only needed to avoid defeat to equal the record of 43 consecutive unbeaten matches in La Liga set by Barca in 2017-2018. The home team was also in good form with three consecutive victories, while Vinicius Junior had just scored a hat-trick against Dortmund. However, the more than 75,000 Bernabeu spectators did not celebrate a single goal.
In fact, the home crowd was disappointed once, when Kylian Mbappe put the ball in the net in the first half, but the goal was disallowed because the French striker was offside. In this match, the 26-year-old star had three more chances to face the goalkeeper, but all of them hit the goalkeeper.
Barca striker Lewandowski was much luckier, scoring twice in two minutes. In the 54th minute, midfielder Marc Casado passed through the line for the Polish striker to break through the goalkeeper and curl the ball into the near corner to open the scoring. Left-back Ferland Mendy made a mistake in this situation because he did not get up to the offside trap in time.
Lewandowski added his 10th goal against Real shortly afterwards, heading into the far corner from a cross by left-back Alejandro Balde. This time it was the turn of home centre-backs Antonio Rudiger and Eder Militao to blame each other for not marking the goalscorer.
The two-goal advantage made it much easier for Barca to play and Lewandowski was given two good chances, including a close-range tap-in in front of an empty goal that hit the post and bounced off. But his teammates made up for the 36-year-old striker's two misses.
From a long pass, Raphinha stole the ball in front of Lucas Vazquez and passed it down the right side of the penalty area to Yamal, who shot with his weaker right foot into the near corner of the home net. The 17-year-old forward turned his back to the home crowd and pointed to his name on his shirt. He also danced a few dances with Balde, to the whistles and boos from the stands.
Raphinha continued to torment Vazquez for the fourth, when he headed a pass over the line from centre-back Inigo Martinez and then lifted the ball with his right foot over Lunin. Vazquez tried to clear the ball but was too late to correct his mistake.
After Raphinha's goal, the coaching staffs of both teams clashed, forcing coach Hansi Flick to intervene and stop his colleagues. In the stands, many groups of spectators left the match even though there were nearly 10 minutes left.
Lewandowski was named man of the match, while Vinicius and Mbappe were virtually "missing" from the field. The French captain was caught offside eight times in the match, while the entire away team was caught offside just once.
Flick's team also maintained their position at the top of the table with six points more than the second-placed Real. And La Liga only has one team that has not lost this season, Atletico Madrid.
A fifth consecutive win in all competitions will give Barca more confidence when they meet Espanyol in their next La Liga match on November 3. Meanwhile, Ancelotti will have to lift his players' spirits before the away match against Valencia.
VN (synthesis)