In its final iteration of 2024/25, El Clasico refused to disappoint.

The rivalry between Spain’s two football giants has been marked by thrilling matchups this season. Barcelona secured two dominant victories earlier, and the Copa del Rey final last month has already been hailed as one of the greatest. The excitement continued with a high-scoring game in Catalonia on Sunday.

Among the spectators was Travis Scott, who witnessed Barcelona’s crucial win. They overwhelmed a distracted Real Madrid defense, which seemed more focused on the celebrity presence than stopping goals.

The football game was remarkably open, with numerous scoring opportunities leading to seven goals and the potential for many more. Almost every attack seemed to count, offering little time for the players to pause and catch their breath.

In the end, Barca’s 4-3 triumph has left them on the brink of La Liga glory, all while confirming 2024/25 to be a season of palpable disappointment in the Spanish capital. Here are four things we learned from the game.

Last season’s La Liga and Champions League double looked set to be the start of a period of Real Madrid supremacy in Spain, with many suggesting that the rich were only getting richer by adding, arguably, the world’s best footballer to their ranks in Kylian Mbappe.

The Frenchman, individually, has performed well after a fairly slow start. His hat-trick means he now leads Robert Lewandowski in the Pichichi standings with 27 La Liga goals, but Mbappe’s goalscoring prize is likely to be the only honour Madrid garners from what’s been a bitterly disappointing campaign.

Not even master balancer Carlo Ancelotti has been able to get this set of players to coalesce. While Madrid have the capacity to purr as a collective, such cohesion has rarely been prevalent. As a result, they’ve often manifested a rather disjointed form, and Ancelotti’s antiquated ideals pale in comparison to the thrilling principles this Barca team adhere to.

Sunday’s defeat means Ancelotti’s final year will end without domestic silverware or the Champions League, and it’s up to Xabi Alonso to get Madrid functioning with the telepathy which has thrust Barcelona to the promised land this term.

The only thing missing from Yamal’s performance against Inter on Tuesday was a finishing touch. While the Spaniard was thwarted by the outstanding Yann Sommer on several occasions in midweek, Yamal was also guilty of producing finishes which didn’t quite match the quality of his overall performance.

However, the teenage superstar didn’t allow any time for talk over a potential problem in the final third to linger on Sunday. Amid another divine display from perhaps the world’s best, Yamal scored Barcelona’s second with an emphatic curling effort.

The winger latched onto Ferran Torres’ layoff with the utmost intent, subtly bending the ball past a despairing Thibaut Courtois. Not even Tuesday night Sommer would’ve had a chance.

You suspect this is the sort of goal Yamal will make a habit of scoring.

The goals were so unrelenting at the Montjuic that they seemed to lose value. We’re not exactly sure how ‘fun’ this Clasico was given the level of defending on display.

Flick’s aggressive defensive line worked wonderfully well when Barcelona were fresh, but this season’s been a slog, and their energy levels without the ball are no longer conducive to high-line success. They’ve conceded at least twice in five of their previous seven outings in all competitions, and at least three in four. If Borja Iglesias ran riot against this fading Barcelona team, what did you think Mbappe and Vini Jr were going to do?

A zonal approach meant Madrid’s two superstars often broke in behind without a touch. After a turnover, the hosts were immediately vulnerable. Now, there’s no denying that Flick’s aggressive line has been key to their success this season, aiding their capacity to suffocate and sustain, but Barcelona’s woeful defensive showings down the stretch beg the question as to whether such an approach is sustainable in the long run.

However, while there is a method to Barca’s madness, Madrid were without a single idea as to how they were going to stop the home side from winning Sunday’s Clasico. They haven’t been well-coached out of possession for much of Ancelotti’s second tenure, and Mbappe’s arrival has exacerbated their woes without the ball.

You can go through, around, and over this Madrid backline.

Rodrygo has long been slated as the underrated fourth horseman of this Real Madrid attack, but the Brazilian has seemingly fallen out of favour ahead of a potential summer move away.

After missing the 3-2 victory over Celta Vigo because of an apparent illness, Rodrygo, who’s played over 3,200 minutes in all competitions this season, was back in Ancelotti’s squad for the Clasico but failed to take to the field.

Something isn’t quite right. Ancelotti turned to debutant Victor Munoz to replace the injured Vinicius Junior in the closing stages despite having Rodrygo available. There has been talk of a potential departure this summer, and Ancelotti’s sudden preference for Arda Guler suggests the Brazilian star may well be on his way out of the Spanish capital.

This felt like a distinct indication.