El Clasico has been anything but recently. Real Madrid downed Barcelona 2-1 to claim their 4th consecutive victory over Barcelona in Spain’s most high profile soccer rivalry on Sunday. With the loss, Barcelona fell to 4-3-2 on the year and now sit in 9th place in La Liga, 6pts behind table leaders Real Sociedad.
Making matters worse is the manner in which Barcelona lost. Undone by familiar errors, many are now wondering how much longer head coach Ronald Koeman has at Camp Nou.
David Alaba opened the scoring for Real Madrid 32 minutes into the match. Now up 1-0, Madrid played a safe game in the 2nd half, often frustrating Barca with their methodical pace. Despite throwing a variety of subs into the game, Barcelona had no answers for Real Madrid and gave up the game sealing goal 3 minutes into extra time to Lucas Vazquez.
Sergio Aguero managed to pot a late goal to make things respectable, but in the end it was too little too late as Real Madrid claimed yet another El Clasico victory over their bitter rival. The loss is Koeman’s 3rd consecutive defeat at the hands of Real Madrid.
Barcelona currently has more questions than answers as they attempt to navigate a “post-Messi” existence. Crippled by off field issues, Barca could now be facing increased pressure from supporters to find a new head coach. Whether Koeman survives the remainder of the season remains to be seen, but if his squad’s uninspired play today was any indication, Joan Laporta may have some difficult decisions ahead.
Barca is next in action Wednesday against Rayo Vallecano. Real Madrid has a date with Osasuna the same day.