El Clasico 2015: Players and Coaches React After Real Madrid vs. Barcelona

Real Madrid manager Rafael Benitez cut a dejected figure after his side's comprehensive 4-0 defeat to Barcelona in El Clasico at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday, as he was grilled on what was a thoroughly humiliating outing for his side.

According to football journalist Dermot Corrigan on Twitter, he said:

"

Whenever you lose, we all have part of the blame. It hurts us, a lot, to lose like this, against Barcelona. But [we] must be united. Marcelo chance at start of second chance is key point in game, if that was goal... we talked at half-time about getting back into the game. Obviously it did not turn out as planned. We wanted to press to attack to win all high up and have possession of the ball.

"

"We need to get over this result and focus on the next match as soon as possible," Benitez explained, per BBC Sport. "What I'm most concerned about now is getting the team to recover mentally in time for the next match."

Benitez also discussed his team selection—particularly his choice to drop Casemiro for James Rodriguez, an altogether more "Galactico" player:

Corrigan offered further insight into his comments:

Like his manager, Luka Modric called for the team to unite and show togetherness as they seek to bounce back after the defeat. Per Corrigan on Twitter, he said:

"

We were not compact as a team, we gave Barca space and that was too dangerous. We must be a team. When we are compact, and all fight together, we are very, very good. But when we're not... Difficult to know why this happened... but it's not the first time... we must be together as a team. We must show character. We cannot drop our hands and drop more points. Must fight and find way out of this.

"

Though it was only Real's second defeat of the season, Benitez is now under serious pressure at the Bernabeu as the supporters—whose whistles and jeers at their own side were audible throughout—grow increasingly restless.

Los Blancos have a series of fairly winnable games coming up, including Eibar and Getafe in the league, but appeasing their fans will not be as simple as putting both teams to the sword.

Daniel Ochoa de Olza/Associated Press

The difficulty for Benitez is in finding the right balance to the side.

Not only does he have to weigh up the need to produce stylish attacking football that gets the most out of Cristiano Ronaldo—who was anonymous once again—against the need for a solid foundation, but also in fielding their expensive stars and their less glamorous but effective players, such as Casemiro.

Real are now six points behind Barca and could be behind rivals Atletico Madrid if Los Rojiblancos win on Sunday. If he's unable to transform his side into a genuine unit that's both attractive and defensively capable, Benitez could be shown the exit door before the season is out. 

In stark contrast, Barcelona boss Luis Enrique hailed his side's performance and admitted the game would live long in the memory. Per the club's official Twitter feed, he said:

"

This victory is glorious, especially in the way that it came about. We were the better side and the triumph is down to us. There is a long way to go but it is always important to win here. It has been an all round performance. It will go down in history as a memorable game for the Blaugranes.

"

According to Corrigan, Enrique pinpointed Barca's ability to dominate in midfield as one of the key factors in their victory:

Indeed, the visitors made full use of the space afforded them by Rodriguez in place of Casemiro, which left a huge gap between Modric and Toni Kroos in front of the back four and Los Blancos' attackers isolated.

Enrique did offer some slight comfort to Barca's opponents though, per Corrigan:

According to Ed Malyon and Jim Daly of the Mirror, Andres Iniesta—who produced a majestic performance and was even applauded off the field by the Madridistas—said: "We only wanted to be ourselves and we have done that. We neutralised Madrid."

Iniesta and team-mate Sergi Roberto took to Twitter after the match to share the celebrations from the dressing room:

Gerard Pique also expressed his delight and seemed to have forgiven Munir El Haddadi after the youngster not only took a late chance virtually off the defender's toes, but then produced a shocking miss, per Corrigan:

Club president Josep Maria Bartomeu congratulated the supporters and lauded the players for their efforts:

The Blaugrana's lead at the top of La Liga is significant even at this stage and they have shown their ability to perform at the highest level even without Lionel Messi, who returned to action from the bench on Saturday.

Barca appear a close-knit group and over the course of a long season on multiple fronts, that will undoubtedly serve them well.