Barcelona

It's Monday, and Gab Marcotti reacts to the biggest moments in the world of football. Jump to: Clasico fallout | PSG misery | Liverpool keep winning | Bayern ...

But Tottenham's 3-1 win over West Ham is huge, because it opens up a gap and because it breaks the weird W-L-W-L roller coaster they were on (they beat Brighton in midweek) while offering glimpses of where Antonio Conte wants them to be. A top-four finish is improbable, what you settle for is a sense that they're moving in the right direction, and this win will help tremendously in that regard. Rather than complaining that they're not a racist club and that Cagliari is not a racist city (which they've done in the past), they have already pledged to identify and ban the offending supporters. Beyond that, Juve looked brighter against Salernitana than they did in recent outings (perhaps the level of the opposition had something to do with it) and remain on track for a top-four finish. In early February, they were top of the league with a four-point margin and a game in hand. Put another way, you can stink it up, but as long as you get the better of the crosstown rivals, you're good in the eyes of the local media and the supporters. It could have cost Liverpool -- Forest had their chances and proved to be a tough out -- but it was the right decision from Klopp, and he was vindicated. And while the defeat in itself is irrelevant -- they somehow still have a 12-point lead with nine games to go and just as important, the sides behind them are either poor or inconsistent -- the damage being done to morale and image is not. Maybe the idea was to bolster the middle of the park, keep the ball and release Rodrygo and Vinicius on the counter. You can look at the individual game and praise Barcelona (and we will), but the broader context and trend is more significant (and remarkable). Yes, Barca benefited from four arrivals in January, but let's remind ourselves who they are and where they were then arrived. But the remarkable part isn't Barcelona's domination of their eternal rivals (we'll get to that): It's the way Xavi achieved the footballing equivalent of getting an aircraft carrier to do a U-turn in a swimming pool. Exactly four months after his first game in charge -- a 1-0 derby win over Espanyol -- Xavi led his Barcelona side to a 4-0 Clasico victory over Real Madrid of the sort they'll be talking about for years to come.

By Fernando Kallas MADRID (Reuters) - Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored twice as a rejuvenated Barcelona gave a football masterclass to inflict a humil...

“If we still have a small chance to make a run for the title, we will fight until the end. “We didn’t expect this result, but our objetive was achieved. With Ousmane Dembele and Ferran Torres exposing Real’s defensive frailty on the flanks, Barca opened the scoring in the 29th minute with an Aubameyang header from a Dembele cross.

Barcelona did not leave the Bernabeu quietly after thrashing Real Madrid 4-0 on Sunday night. Watch Barca's rowdy locker room celebrations.

Barcelona have not been the best team in Spain this season - highlighted by the fact they still sat 12 points behind Real after Sunday's win. They have been in superb form in this calendar year. Ser del Barca es el millor que hi ha!"

There's no hiding, not after yesterday. Not after Barcelona, just months ago the biggest figure of fun in world soccer, waltzed into the Bernabeu, ...

The win is obviously more foundational for Barça than it is destructive for Madrid. The latter is still going to walk to the league title, though that might be more a commentary on the state of La Liga than anything else. 2… 1…). But if Xavi can rouse this from a team of good but few great players (De Jong and Pedri would be in the latter, Aubameyang only moonlights as one from time to time), Barça’s prospects are that much brighter. What is eye-popping is that his shots and shots-on-target per 90 minutes have nearly doubled in Spain. Again, the step down in speed in Spain is soma to a pacey forward like Aubameyang, even in his 30s. Torres was very much on the fringe at City and is now central to Barça. De Jong had only flashed brilliance in his two previous seasons there, until Xavi carved out all this space for him. He’s not going to get 65 percent of his shots on target for the rest of his career. It’s pretty safe to say Madrid will not have an easy stroll to the title next year, even if that’s the only pace they can play at. WIth speed demons like Dembélé or Torres or Adama Traore on the wings, no one in Spain really has the players to deal with such speed on the wings. But let’s cede the stage to Xavi for a bit, and try to figure out how he’s completely revitalized a moribund team that still might only contain one or two world-class players (and one of those is in goal). The Madrid midfield has been using a walker for a couple years now, but because the play in Spain is so slow, it hasn’t cost them. The plus-23 goal-difference since he took over is good enough for second in La Liga by itself. While Xavi is seen as the symbol of Barça’s and Spain’s tiki-taka excellence from the previous decade, that’s not exactly what he’s doing now that he’s in the driver’s seat. Although he is taking a page from Barcelona overlord Pep Guardiola. As was on perfect display yesterday, Xavi has Barça in a 4-3-3 that looks a lot like Manchester City’s. In the front-three, Xavi has been able to resuscitate Ousmane Dembélé’s career on the right, where he stays as wide as possible and uses his speed.