Barcelona vs. Real Madrid: Post-Match Reaction from 2015 Clasico

Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti refused to give up on the La Liga campaign after his team lost Sunday's Clasico at the Camp Nou, 2-1, handing Barcelona a four-point lead at the top of the standings.

As shared by Barcastuff, the Italian plans to keep his team's focus divided between the domestic championship and the Champions League:

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Ancelotti (Real Madrid): "Winning Liga is more difficult, 4 points behind now, but we don't give up. Now focus on CL? No, Liga is not over."

— barcastuff (@barcastuff) March 22, 2015"

Scorer Jeremy Mathieu echoed the same sentiment, reminding everyone the Blaugrana have a difficult schedule ahead of them:

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Mathieu: "4-point lead in Liga? There are still a lot of games left, many points, and we have a very tough month of April ahead." #fcblive

— barcastuff (@barcastuff) March 22, 2015"

The Catalans and Los Blancos served up an entertaining match on Sunday, a see-saw battle that ultimately saw the hosts walk away with three points. Mathieu had opened the score with a bullet header before Real tied things up in the first half through Cristiano Ronaldo.

The Champions League holders were the better team early in the second half until Luis Suarez broke the deadlock with a superb finish, and Barcelona comfortably held onto the lead after that.

Ancelotti thought his team had the upper hand until Suarez's goal, at which point things started to unravel, via AS English:

As shared by SocialRMadrid, he added that he believed a draw would have been the fair result:

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Ancelotti: "I think we deserved a draw at least."

— SocialRMadrid (@SocialRMadrid) March 22, 2015"

Los Blancos certainly had the upper hand for large stretches of the match. Gareth Bale came within inches of handing his team the lead, but Ronaldo was marginally offside when he headed the ball to his Welsh team-mate.

Star defender Sergio Ramos thought Real should have just finished the job in the first half:

The Catalans were obviously ecstatic after the match, and via the club's official Twitter account, Javier Mascherano interpreted the way the match flowed differently. He thought Barcelona deservedly took the three points:

Fans all across the globe enjoyed the spectacle the two giants of Spanish football put up on Sunday, including stars from other sports, like basketball icon Kobe Bryant:

Luis Enrique, the manager from the winning side, gave full credit to both teams for Sunday's fantastic showing:

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Luis Enrique: "Very complete game from both teams, two of the best teams in the world. Good win, happy for team and fans."

— barcastuff (@barcastuff) March 22, 2015"

To explain the win, he told reporters his players were willing to keep closing the gaps even when they didn't see much of the ball, praising their determination and work rate:

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Luis Enrique: "My players were able to suffer when we didn't have the ball, and to enjoy when we had the ball." #fcblive

— barcastuff (@barcastuff) March 22, 2015"

Lionel Messi was limited to a handful of beautiful touches in the first half before some tactical variations saw him get more involved in the second. But according to Luis, the player himself deserves the credit for making the switch:

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Luis enrique: "Messi moving to the centre in second half was the key? Leo has freedom of movement, we wanted to play more between the lines"

— barcastuff (@barcastuff) March 22, 2015"

Four points is hardly a safe lead, but you get the sense Sunday's result was more significant than just its impact on the standings. The Blaugrana have been nearly unbeatable in recent weeks, and the momentum they will receive from this result can't be understated.

The season is hardly lost for Los Blancos, but they'll have to rely on other teams stealing points from Barcelona. And given the Catalans' current form, that's hardly a given.

Sunday's result may just prove decisive at the end of the season, but as of right now, it's impossible to draw definitive conclusions. Neither team is willing to do so, and for good reason.   

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