It all came down to this. El Clasico at Camp Nou on Sunday was Real Madrid’s final realistic hope of reigniting LaLiga’s title race, but Franck Kessie’s dramatic late winner puts Barcelona practically out of sight.
While Barca coach Xavi had been keen to downplay the idea of this contest being in any way “definitive”, only going as far as suggesting victory would be a “strong blow”, it’s difficult to imagine him actually believing those comments now.
Kessie’s neat strike secured Barca a thrilling 2-1 win and their celebrations said it all. This was no standard Clasico victory – it was a win that should bury Madrid’s title hopes once and for all, putting the Blaugrana a massive 12 points clear with as many games to go.
Madrid’s woe is increased, due to the fact that this Catalan side has only conceeded 5 goals in the La Liga to the rest of the teams in the competition, other than Real Madrid.
What hope do they really have of Barca dropping at least 12 points? After all, no team has ever even overturned a nine-point lead at this stage in a season, let alone a 12-point deficit.
Part of Los Blancos’ problem in the game appeared to stem from a lack of invention. Everything went through Vinicius, and he was – for a while – the only Madrid player who looked likely to worry Barca.
Madrid will now have to carry on pretending to believe the near-impossible is plausible. In reality, it’s game over, as since the inception of the competition, a 9 points deficit at this stage has not been turned over before.