Barcelona vs. Real Madrid: Biggest Takeaways from Yet Another Thrilling Clasico

Another El Clasico, another display of (mostly) beautiful football by Barcelona and Real Madrid.

For the first 45 minutes, Barcelona was dominant. It controlled 72 percent of possession—although it felt more like 92—and kept Los Blancos on the back foot.

However, no goal ever came.

Until the second half, that is, when five balls found the back of the net.

It was Madrid that surprisingly struck first to grab the early Super Cup lead thanks to a Cristiano Ronaldo header off a well struck corner by Mesut Ozil. 

Pedro responded roughly 60 seconds later, before Lionel Messi put away a penalty kick and Xavi combined with Andres Iniesta to slot another home.

Bam—just like that, it was 3-1.

Real Madrid added one late goal thanks to a howling mistake by Victor Valdes, but Barca held on to the 3-2 first-leg lead.

Let's take a closer look.

Barcelona Are Who We Thought They Were

Yes, Real Madrid won La Liga last season. The club even had a fair amount of success against Barca. However, don't think for one second that this means Tito Vilanova's squad is anything but the best team in the world.

They proved that on Thursday.

While the final score was 3-2, this was a truly dominant performance. Barcelona, as it always does, held the ball for over 70 percent of the game. The players got off more shots and at times made your jaw drop with beautiful runs, long balls and perfect touches. 

This one could have easily ended up 4-1 or 5-1 instead of 3-2. Barca established itself as top dog in this one. 

Lionel Messi Isn't Always Perfect

If the best player in the world was his usual self, he would have scored a hat trick.

Yes, Messi made plenty of dazzling runs and finished his PK with precision. That's because he's still better than pretty much everyone in the world even when he's not at his best

There were multiple instances in the first half when the 25-year-old got the ball to his left foot with space inside the box. Usually, that's game over, but he misfired both times.

It was, in a word, weird. 

Nonetheless, it's harmless nitpicking. I'm sure he'll respond with a brace in the second leg. 

The Back Line Needs to Be Better

This isn't such a big deal since Barcelona usually controls the ball for about 70 percent of the game, but the back made too many mistakes on Thursday. 

The first came on the corner. Ozil whipped one into the box, but for whatever reason, Cristiano Ronaldo found himself essentially unmarked and headed it in with ease.

Valdes couldn't even move. 

In the final minutes, Valdes took a horrendous touch on a back-pass and allowed Angel di Maria to knock the ball into the open net.

Barcelona can out-score anyone in the world and can survive mistakes like these, but every once in a while, even this team will get burned. The players need to clean it up at the back. 

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