Barcelona ended a five-game losing streak against Real Madrid in sensational style as they sealed an emphatic 4-0 Clasico victory at the Santiago Bernabeu on Sunday.
Xavi’s men were dominant from the outset and went in at the break two goals up following headers from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Ronald Araujo.
They picked up where they left off at the start of the second period, with Ferran Torres and Aubameyang completing the scoring before the hour mark.
The Blaugrana are still 12 points behind Carlo Ancelotti’s league leaders, although Xavi’s third-placed side do have a game in hand.
Federico Valverde drew a smart stop from Marc-Andre ter Stegen in the early stages, while at the other end Thibaut Courtois denied Aubameyang and Ousmane Dembele in quick succession.
Torres then whipped narrowly wide from just outside the penalty area before Barca’s dominance bore fruit in the 29th minute when Aubameyang headed in Dembele’s right-wing cross from inside the six-yard box.
Courtois denied Aubameyang a second soon after, yet Madrid found themselves 2-0 behind after 38 minutes when an unmarked Araujo nodded home Dembele’s corner from eight yards.
Torres made amends for a glaring miss 20 seconds into the second half with Barca’s third in the 47th minute, the Spain international slamming into the net after he had been superbly picked out by Aubameyang’s back-heeled pass.
Aubameyang made it 4-0 in the 51st minute with a sumptuous finish over Courtois after being played in by Torres, the goal given by VAR after it had initially been ruled out for offside.
Torres, Aubameyang and Dembele all had wonderful chances to compound Madrid’s misery further, yet it mattered little in the end as Barca extended their unbeaten away run in LaLiga to 11 games in memorable fashion.
