In Barcelona's win against Real Madrid, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored twice and had an assist. 2:59
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Ronald Araujo scored two goals each as Barcelona defeated Real Madrid by a score of four goals to nil. There are three thoughts on El Clasico.
Four months have passed since Xavi took charge of Barcelona, and they have risen from ninth to third in LaLiga, but simply measuring progress in numbers is not enough.
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He took over a group that was broken in spirit and turned it into a confident unit. He lives by the traditional values of possession, creativity and the collective above the individual, while allowing himself space to make the sort of changes demanded by the modern game. It's like playing a pure defender at right-back to contain Vinicius Junior rather than trotting out Dani Alves. Or playing wingers like Ousmane Dembele, who interpret the game in vastly different ways. It's possible to turn a suspended centre-forward like Aubameyang into an incredibly effective attacking threat by rebuilding his confidence.
The financial restrictions next season are likely to be as tight as they were this season, if not more, as a result of resignations from club CEOs, doubts about whether the club will remain solvent, and news that the financial restrictions will be as tight as they were this season. The man should run for public office.
Carlo Ancelotti had two options, either he could keep his 4-3-3 setup or he could rip it up and use a specialist like Luka Jovic or Marco Asensio.
The diamond shape that he chose kept his wingers wide and left Luka Modric and sometimes Toni Kroos as his front men through the middle. It was bold, original and a disaster.
It made it so easy for Barcelona to play through the first line, giving them total control in the final third. With a nine-point lead at the top of LaLiga and a knockout game against a big club in two and a half weeks, you can afford to experiment, but this backfired badly. Nobody will want to see this approach again.
It was Dembele who delivered the cutting edge. He set up the first goal with a fake inside-go- outside move on Nacho that left the defender in the middle of the goal as he raced to the byline and delivered a cross for Aubameyang. One of the Frenchman's trademark laser-guided deliveries from a corner gave Araujo his second goal. He was involved in the build-up to the third.
He is close to unplayable when he is like this. He is one of the most two-footed players out there. He gave the ball away, not tracking effectively, and got an earful from Xavi before being substituted, which was the downside. You need to live with the side of superstars.
On June 30, Dembele becomes a free agent. Negotiations are over. If Dembele can deliver a first half every week like he did against Madrid, he will be worth it. When Ansu Fati returns from injury, he could be one half of a devastating pair of wingers for the next decade or so. He has never made more than 22 league starts in a season due to a string of injuries, and you want to think long and hard before you make him the club's highest-paid player. There is a huge call to be made here, and Barcelona can ill afford to get it wrong.
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