1st half
The opening 15 minutes of the Real Madrid game couldn't have gone worse for Barcelona, as they conceded an early goal after Jordi Alba got easily beaten on the left flank. Besides, Ronald Araujo and Marc-Andre ter Stegen could have done a better job at stopping Karim Benzema.
The Catalans were in control after the conceded goal, but they couldn't contain Los Blancos' counter-attacks, one of which ended up in Vinicius Junior winning a free-kick just outside the box which was later converted by Toni Kroos, although not without the help of Sergino Dest.
Despite keeping the ball for the most part of the first half, Barca's only real goal-scoring chance came in the added minutes, with Leo Messi attempting a direct shot from a corner and hitting the sidebar.
Other than that, there were a few blocked shots and Ousmane Dembele falling inside the opposite penalty box after a possible foul from Eder Militao, although the VAR didn't even take a second look.
1st half rating: 3/10
2nd half
With the introduction of Antoine Griezmann and the team briefly switching to a 4-3-3 formation, Barca looked much more lively in the second half. Oscar Mingueza even pulled one back in the 60th minute, giving Blaugrana hopes for a comeback.
The comeback didn't happen, though. Madrid sat in a deep block and were a constant threat on the counter, which got increasingly worrisome after the break since Barca's defensive line had been pushing even higher.
Luckily, the Catalans avoided conceding the third goal. In terms of creating their own chances, though, Barca didn't shine. Alba had a good opportunity late in the second half, but couldn't decide between a pass and a shot and ended up wasting it.
During the same attack, Ferland Mendy pulled Martin Braithwaite down in the penalty box and the Barca players appealed to the referee but, once again, they were ignored and the possible penalty wasn't reviewed by VAR.
With a few seconds before the final whistle, Ilaix Moriba received the ball inside the penalty box with no rival marking him but he hit the crossbar. Ter Stegen — who had arrived in the penalty box as well — had a go at the goal after the rebound but ended up hitting Francisco Trincao instead, thus putting an end to Barca's comeback hopes.
2nd half rating: 5/10
Full-time rating: 4/10
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'Typical Koeman': Football analyst explains what went wrong for Barca in Clasico
"It seems like the idea of putting a cautious line-up without Griezmann and Frenkie de Jong at centre-back was Koeman's bad idea," football analyst and Twitter user Vadim Lukomski writes.
"It turned out to be even worse when Real Madrid scored an early goal. That's typical Ronald cowardice. He fights against it but it still emerges in key moments," he adds.
Frenkie de Jong started the game as a central midfielder but it was quite hard for him to display his best attacking performance. In the second half, the Dutchman dropped deeper to play at centre-back.
As for Antoine Griezmann, the Frenchman entered the pitch after the break and contributed to Barca's only goal of the night. Other than that, the forward didn't help the team a lot.
'Is it a penalty or no?' Angry Koeman asks reporter about penalty, quits interview after his reaction
"If you are a Barcelona fan, you should be heated up and unhappy with the two decisions from the referee. In the second half, there was a clear penalty," Ronald Koeman said after the Real Madrid clash.
"Then, one time, we have to accept it and move forward. I've said what I think If there was a penalty given, it would've been 2-2. I don't know why there is VAR in Spain. You have a referee, a linesman, a fourth referee, VAR, and everyone thinks it's a penalty [except for them].
"You saw the play. Was it a penalty or not?" the coach then proceeded to ask the reporter.
The journalist responded by saying that it was up to the referee to make the decision. Hearing him trying to evade the question, Koeman simply left the interview.
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