How Barcelona can make Clasico history and end Real Madrid’s nightmare week

A bad season for Real Madrid Could be about to get much, much worse. A disastrous 2025-26 has already seen Madrid lose a coach in Xabi Alonso, devastated King’s Cupexit UEFA Champions League In the quarter finals and suffering a string La Liga Losses that left their leaders behind BarcelonaAnd faces a trophyless season for the second consecutive year.

Just last week, Madrid suffered a series of behind-the-scenes scandals: one injured Kylian Mbappé took an ill-advised mid-season break, details emerged of a dressing room clash Antonio Rudiger And Alvaro Carrerasand vice-captain Federico Valverde The injured were taken to the hospital After a collision with Aurelian Chaumeny.

Now, Barcelona have a chance to twist the knife on Sunday Classic (Live at 3 pm ET across the ESPN network in the US) They go into the game at the Camp Nou 11 points clear of Madrid, with four games of the season remaining. That means Barca need just a draw to secure the title against their biggest rivals in club football’s most high-profile game and be confirmed as league champions. The Catalans’ celebrations will be raucous, and Madrid’s suffering will be all the more intense because it’s all, close by, nowhere to hide.

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You can remember it Classic Always be decisive. After all, every La Liga season inevitably ends with giants Madrid and Barca battling it out for the title, with an underdog like Atletico Madrid occasionally turning it into a three-horse race. Points up for possession in two leagues each season Classic Inevitably move a bit towards deciding where the trophy will be taken.

Paul Clement – assistant to Carlo Ancelotti in his first spell at Madrid – and now coaching Ancelotti “has a heightened sense of anticipation going into these games”. BrazilIts national team — in 2024, told ESPN “You know you’re going to have an impact on where the title goes. They’re six-point games.”

Take last season, when Barcelona’s La Liga title triumph — in coach Hansie Flick’s first campaign in charge — made it possible to win both leagues. Classic: A comprehensive 4–0 win at the Bernabeu in October 2024 and a more competitive 4–3 win at Montjuic in May 2025. Barca have been the best team all season, but Classic Sealed the deal for Flick. They finished the season four points ahead of Real Madrid.

The previous season also saw Carlo Ancelotti’s Madrid become champions, in part, Classic The double came thanks to a 2-1 win over Barcelona in Montjuic in October 2023 Jude Bellingham3-2 in April 2024 with another dramatic Bellingham overtime winner. Classic The results, especially the first, set the tone.

other Classic Managers were fired and the entire project was reevaluated. Barcelona’s 5-1 win at the Camp Nou in October 2018 Luis Suarez The hat-trick signaled a premature end to Julen Lopetegui’s tenure as Real Madrid coach after just four months. Another severely one-sided scoreline, a 4-0 win for Barca at the Bernabeu in November 2015, was the beginning of the end for Rafa Benitez, who never regained the trust of club president Florentino Perez and was sacked two months later.

Go back further, to what many consider the pinnacle of the rivalry — the Guardiola vs. Mourinho years — and there are plenty of season-defining examples. Classic. Barcelona destroyed Manuel Pellegrini’s Madrid 6-2 at the Bernabeu in May 2009, one of the greatest ever. Classic A team performance, leaving Barca in a commanding position, seven points clear at the top of the table with four games remaining.

Then, 18 months later, in November 2010, Guardiola’s 5-0 demolition of Mourinho’s rivals at the Camp Nou was unforgettable, although it left Barca just two points ahead of Madrid with 25 matches remaining, the title destination still an open question. When the two teams met four times in three competitions in 18 grueling days in 2011, a 1-1 La Liga draw left the gap at eight points, with six games remaining.

“Everyone remembers those games,” the former Madrid defender said Raul Albiol — who watched the 5-0 rout from the bench and was sent off in the 2011 encounter — told ESPN in 2023. “They were special.”

But one, surprising honor, Sunday’s game may top them all. This meeting will be the first if Barcelona can avoid defeat Classic In almost 100 years — since 1932 — to definitively, mathematically determine the title’s destination. Then, on the last day of the 1931–32 campaign, Madrid drew 2–2 with Barcelona to win the league and thus ensure Madrid’s finish in second place. Athletic Club. It was the first of Madrid’s 36 league titles so far.

Anything but defeat for Barcelona on Sunday will therefore be history. It would also confirm the extent of Madrid’s current crisis on and off the pitch. Back-to-back seasons don’t happen without a major trophy in the success factory at the Bernabeu. In fact, this is something that happens once every 20 years. Madrid’s last two consecutive seasons without major silverware came in 2004–05 and 2005–06. Earlier, it was back in 1982-83 and 1983-84.

In 2006, the fallout in Madrid was seismic: Pérez resigned as president and admitted a “change of direction” was needed before returning three years later, following the failure of the star-studded Galactico project. This summer, plans for a new coach to replace Alvaro Arbeloa and a squad overhaul – as well as widespread calls for an overhaul of the club at executive level – could be similarly dramatic.

If there’s one small consolation for Madrid, it’s that they still have a chance to delay Barca’s celebrations. Two earlier this season ClassicMadrid won 2-1 La Liga in October and Barcelona 3-2 Spanish Super Cup Victory in January showed that this Madrid side can compete in a head-to-head competition with their rivals.

Granted, the context is different now. Arbeloa is the coach, not Alonso. The team endured a frustrating week of dressing room revelations, culminating in a physical altercation between two senior players, Chouameny and Valverde. And we still don’t know if Mbappe’s fitness will allow him to do anything close to his best.

It doesn’t look good, but Madrid will have to cling to hope of overcoming their setback to prevent Barca from writing another painful chapter in this epic rivalry.