Saturday’s victory made a bit of history for the Blaugrana, who became the first La Liga side to win four in a row at the Bernabeu
Barcelona claimed a piece of La Liga history on Saturday by becoming the first side to win four straight league away matches at the Bernabeu.
Ivan Rakitic scored the game’s only goal as the Blaugrana claimed a second win over Madrid in four days, leaving Los Blancos with little in the way of La Liga title hopes as Barcelona opened up a 10-point gap over Atletico Madrid at the top of the table.
The win also gave Barcelona a lead in the all-time series between the two clubs for the first time in 88 years, having now won 96 times to Madrid’s 95. Not since 1931 has the Catalan club held the overall series lead.
The 1-0 result also made it three straight Clasico clean sheets for Barca and the Bernabeu in all competitions, a first, with Barcelona having scored in a rivalry record 23 consecutive contests between them and Madrid.
And while it may have all been great news for Barcelona, the historical stats are not so great for Santiago Solari.
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The Madrid boss has now failed to find a victory in his first three matches against the club’s biggest rivals, having earned just a draw to go with the two latest losses.
You have to look back to Leo Beenhakker in 1987 to find a Madrid manager with a worse start to life against Barcelona.
The loss leaves Madrid 12 points back of first place in La Liga, with the club also having been bounced from the Copa del Rey via Wednesday’s 3-0 loss to Barcelona in the semi-final second leg.
Madrid are still alive in the Champions League, having taken a 2-1 win over Ajax in the first leg of their last-16 clash, with the second leg set to take place on Tuesday.
For Barcelona, the hopes of a treble are alive and well.
They now hold a commanding lead in La Liga and are set to take on Valencia in the Copa del Rey final in May.
In the Champions League, their round-of-16 tie against Lyon is finely poised with the first leg having finished 0-0.
The return leg is set for March 13 in Barcelona.