“El Clasico was a bit Men vs Boys” - Arsene Wenger delivers verdict on Real Madrid vs Barcelona 

Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger delivered a blunt verdict on Sunday’s El Clasico showdown between Real Madrid and Barcelona, calling it a ‘Men vs Boys’ contest. Real Madrid secured a 2-1 win over their archrivals at the Santiago Bernabeu to open up a five-point lead at the top of the LaLiga table.

While Hansi Flick's side enjoyed possession on the night, Los Blancos were more threatening in the final third. Each time Xabi Alonso’s men had the ball, it looked as though they were always going to score, and the scoreline could have been worse for the Catalans, thanks to Wojciech Szczesny’s brilliance between the sticks and Kylian Mbappe missing a penalty in the second half.

Both teams finished the contest with ten men, as Andriy Lunin and Pedri were given their marching orders in the closing stages of the match as tension boiled over.

After the match, Arsene Wenger praised Real Madrid’s performance before taking aim at Barcelona’s ‘toothless’ display. He told beIN Sports:

“El Clásico was a bit Men vs Boys. Real Madrid’s defensive performance was much stronger than Barcelona’s. In attack, Madrid always looked like they could score, Barcelona looked toothless. They had a lot of the ball but never really looked like scoring. I give credit to Xabi Alonso.”

Speaking further, Wenger said there was inexperience and immaturity in Barca’s defense, noting that Inigo Martinez’s departure was a loss for them.

“It’s a victory with added significance” – Xabi Alonso on Real Madrid’s 2-1 win over Barcelona

Real Madrid boss Xabi Alonso expressed delight following his side’s victory against Barca at the Bernabeu.

It was Alonso’s first Clasico win in charge of Los Blancos, making him the first Madrid manager to achieve this in LaLiga since Zinedine Zidane in 2016. His Real Madrid side also had 23 shots against Barcelona, the most by a manager on his El Clasico debut in LaLiga since the 2003/04 season.

Speaking after the match, Alonso said:

"The team was very motivated. Before the game, we talked about how important it was, not only to get the three points but also to see where we were coming from and what we wanted to be. I'm very happy for the lads because they needed the feeling of winning a big game like this Clásico. The motivation was total. It's not just the three points, it's a victory with added significance. Even so, it's early days and we have a lot of work to do. We wanted to feel good and that's how it turned out. For the future, we need the same feelings we had today.”

The victory saw Madrid extend their total wins against the Blaugrana. Across all 262 meetings in all competitions, Los Blancos have 106 wins, two more than Barca’s 104.