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Agence France-Presse

MADRID, Spain -- Robert Lewandowski struck twice in two minutes as Barcelona crushed rivals Real Madrid 4-0 on Saturday, inflicting the Spanish champions&#x27; first La Liga defeat in over a year.Teenage winger Lamine Yamal and Raphinha completed the rout, while Madrid superstar Kylian Mbappe had two goals ruled out for offside on a frustrating first Clasico appearance for Los Blancos, who now trail league leaders Barcelona by six points.France captain Mbappe was consistently outwitted by the visitors&#x27; high defensive line to the chagrin of the exasperated Santiago Bernabeu crowd, whose mood darkened as Barcelona hit four second-half goals.Barcelona snapped Madrid&#x27;s 42-match unbeaten streak in La Liga, one game short of the Catalan giants&#x27; all-time record, adding further shine to their triumph.&quot;It&#x27;s a hard moment, a tough moment when you lose a game, (especially after) so many unbeaten,&quot; admitted Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti.<div><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AfpItQBKl04?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe>His counterpart Hansi Flick has whipped Barcelona into shape in just a matter of months and in ending a run of four Clasico defeats, his young side made a statement victory to show how far they have come.</div>&quot;The big objectives are (fought) against the best in the world and we&#x27;ve shown that we&#x27;ve got the ability to beat anyone, that we&#x27;ve got the mentality and that we&#x27;ve changed,&quot; said Barcelona goalkeeper Inaki Pena.Ancelotti&#x27;s game-plan was clear -- defend in numbers and try to spring Mbappe or Vinicius Junior with a long ball into the space behind Barcelona&#x27;s defense.It led to an intense but repetitive first half, with Barcelona&#x27;s defense catching Madrid offside on eight occasions.Mbappe hit the side-netting and lobbed over but was offside on both occasions, while Jude Bellingham forced a superb save from Pena, but it would also have been disallowed for offside.&quot;We always play with the back four very high, (regarding Mbappe&#x27;s goals), it&#x27;s always like that because the referees don&#x27;t whistle, so it looks dangerous -- but it&#x27;s not dangerous,&quot; said Flick.At the other end Yamal sent a soft effort at Andriy Lunin when put through on goal by a superb Lewandowski flick.Barcelona were not playing with the fluidity they have demonstrated in recent weeks, culminating in the impressive 4-1 Champions League win over Bayern Munich on Wednesday.Mbappe thought he had broken the deadlock when he got in behind and produced a fine dinked finish over Pena, but yet again the forward was marginally offside and his celebration was cut short.<div>- Silence the Bernabeu -</div><script data-wid="auto" type="text/javascript" src="https://content.viralize.tv/display/?zid=AAEyze-tm4MR6kEa&amp;cid=ABPG4KCslECXrqGS&amp;activation=click&amp;vip_mode=playing&amp;vip_position=bottom-right"></script>Despite the feeling they were constantly menacing Barcelona, Madrid only produced one legal shot in the first half, with Vinicius dragging into the side-netting when he tried to catch Pena out at the near post.Eager for more control, Flick replaced Fermin Lopez with Frenkie de Jong at half-time and Barcelona soon took the lead and never looked back.Marc Casado slipped Lewandowski through and with Madrid defender Ferland Mendy a step behind his team-mates, the Pole was onside.The 36-year-old slotted low past Lunin to silence the Bernabeu, and two minutes later he pounced again.Lewandowski headed home Alejandro Balde&#x27;s cross to double Barcelona&#x27;s advantage and net his 14th league goal in 11 games, continuing his stunning revival under Flick after struggling last season.Mbappe had a second goal ruled out for offside as Madrid struggled to find a way back in and Pena kept out a low stinging effort from the former Paris Saint-Germain forward.Lewandowski spurned two golden chances to complete his hat-trick, shooting against the post from Raphinha&#x27;s lay-off and then blazing over after good work by Yamal.Spain&#x27;s Euro 2024 star Yamal plundered Barcelona&#x27;s third by rifling home after the surging Raphinha teed him up, with Flick celebrating jubilantly in the dugout.Raphinha completed the rout with a lob over Lunin to leave the Bernabeu reeling.&quot;We played a first half with intensity, we could have scored (but) we lacked some accuracy,&quot; said Ancelotti.&quot;When they scored they hit two goals that took all of our energy away, we took more risks at the back and they found a lot more chances on the counter attack.&quot;For 60 minutes we competed very well and we have to forget the last 30.&quot;<div>© Agence France-Presse</div>

Robert Lewandowski struck twice in two minutes as Barcelona crushed rivals Real Madrid 4-0 on Saturday, inflicting the Spanish champions' first La Liga defeat in over a year.

Robert Lewandowski struck twice in two minutes as Barcelona crushed rivals Real Madrid 4-0 on Saturday, inflicting the Spanish champions' first La Liga defeat in over a year.

Football: Lewandowski double as Barca shred Madrid in La Liga Clasico

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Football: Lewandowski double as Barca shred Madrid in La Liga Clasico

Agence France-Presse,

Rik Sharma

Published Oct 27, 2024 02:47 PM PHT

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Updated Oct 27, 2024 04:53 PM PHT

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football

La Liga

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Real Madrid

El Clasico

Robert Lewandowski

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