Arsenal legend Arsene Wenger remarked that Sunday’s installment of El Clasico between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid was ‘men against boys’.
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Arsenal legend Arsene Wenger remarked that Sunday’s installment of El Clasico between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid was “men against boys”.
After losing four times to its bitter rival in 2024/2025, Real Madrid bullied Barca at the Bernabeu to come out with a 2-1 win.
Kylian Mbappe put the hosts up first, ahead of Fermin Lopez equalising with his fourth goal in two games.
Just a couple of minutes before half time, however, Jude Bellingham, who set Mbappe up, scored from close range with what proved to be the winner.
As always with a Clasico, there were many talking points and topics to discuss post-match.
For Wenger, however, the action itself was a case of “men against boys” in football’s biggest club football encounter.
‘The Clasico was a bit like a duel between men and boys. Real Madrid’s defense was much stronger than Barcelona’s. In attack, Madrid always seemed capable of scoring, while Barcelona seemed ineffective,” Wenger said.
The Frenchman believed that although Barca “had a lot of the ball”, they “never seemed capable of scoring a goal”.
“[There was] a lot of horizontal passing and little risk against a really well-planted defense. They won a lot of duels,” the three-time Premier League winner noted.
Xabi Alonso was one of the best performers in El Clasico
Though his opposite number Hansi Flick wasn’t allowed to man the dugout thanks to a suspension picked up via a red card against Girona, Madrid manager Xabi Alonso was one of the biggest performers of the night in pulling off the win.
“I give a lot of credit to Xabi Alonso. He balanced the team well to end up being superior. They defended well, pressed the opponent and created dangerous actions by scoring two goals and missing a penalty,” Wenger remarked.
“They clearly played a good game and, for me, they deserved to win this game against a Barca side that showed very little up front.”
Despite Alonso getting his team to click, he clearly has work on his hands with Vinicius Jr. The Brazilian had been fantastic in the first half of El Clasico, but then went on a tantrum for being substituted which the Spaniard said would be resolved internally in his post-match press conference.
