Barcelona extend El Clásico dominance over Real Madrid

Barcelona extend El Clásico dominance over Real Madrid

A title won in a direct clash with their arch-rivals, in pretty emphatic fashion and without too much resistance. Barcelona clinched the La Liga title against Real Madrid, underlining a clear trend of dominance in El Clásico this century.

These two giants of world football have a surprisingly balanced overall head-to-head record. After Sunday’s 2-0 win, Barcelona now sit level with Real Madrid on 106 victories in the fixture, with 52 draws between them. But since 2000, the balance has definitely swung Barcelona’s way.

Since 2001, Los Culès have won 32 Clásicoscompared to Real Madrid’s 28 wins. What makes Sunday’s result even more special is that, despite so many huge meetings between the sides, Barcelona had never actually sealed a league title mathematically against their biggest rivals before.

From the Ronaldinho era to the Lionel Messi years, the Blaugrana have also flipped the script in terms of league success. Real Madrid are still Spain’s most successful club overall with 36 league titles, but this century tells a different story: Barcelona have 13 La Liga titles, while Madrid have nine.

Real Madrid have only managed one back-to-back league title run this century, between 2007 and 2008. Barcelona, on the other hand, have now completed four league doubles in that same period, including their dominant spell under Pep Guardiola, when they won three straight titles from 2009 to 2011.

Champions League success still belongs to Real Madrid

That said, things look a bit different in Europe. While Barcelona have still enjoyed Champions League success this century, winning four titles, the competition has largely been dominated by Real Madrid.