Hansi Flick stuck to his bold strategy of playing with a high defensive line for his visit to the Santiago Bernabéu. It’s his philosophy, and he’s sticking with it until the end; after all, it earned him a Champions League title and a sextuplet when he was at Bayern Munich. The Real Madrid team fell right into the trap set by the German coach, being called offside 11 times—a skill they couldn't seem to master to their advantage, ending up heavily defeated in the Clasico.

Out of those, eight were in the first half, with six of them attributed to Kylian Mbappé, including one that was ruled out in the 30th minute. With eight offside calls, Real Madrid matched their highest number of offsides in the first half of a La Liga match in 11 years.

In the first half, if we look at the key stats for possession and shots, it seemed like FC Barcelona was in control since Real Madrid didn’t get their first shot on target until the 60th minute. The white team was walking a tightrope, falling right into Flick's game plan by rushing their plays and constantly trying to find their players in open space. They had the perfect players to exploit a rival like Barcelona, but Vinícius, Bellingham, and especially Mbappé lacked the patience and precision needed to play on the edge of offside.

Barcelona, on the other hand, displayed that precision through Robert Lewandowski, with invaluable help from Ferland Mendy. Mendy got caught out when Real Madrid pushed up their pressure, allowing the Polish striker to break through and score in the 54th minute, making it 0-1 and changing the game.

Real Madrid struggled both defensively and offensively. Things got worse when, in the 66th minute, Mbappé had another goal ruled out for offside—his seventh of the match. In total, Real Madrid was caught offside 11 times against a Barcelona team that leads Europe in forcing their opponents into illegal positions, averaging 5.9 per game. Madrid matched the record this season for the most offsides against Barcelona, equal to the 11 times Alavés was caught offside.

Moreover, Real Madrid seemed mentally offside too. They lacked the resilience they showed on Tuesday at the Bernabéu against Borussia Dortmund when they turned a 0-2 deficit into a 5-2 win. It was clear this Saturday that it wasn’t “their Champions.”

Ancelotti’s squad conceded two goals in two minutes, and just ten minutes later, Lewandowski missed a chance to make it 0-3, which eventually came in the 77th minute against a deflated Real Madrid, who were unusually soft in defense.

At 0-4 down and struggling on the pitch, they were left praying for the final whistle to avoid conceding a fifth goal. The Barcelona fans in the Santiago Bernabéu were calling for “the hand” as they witnessed their team win a classic 0-4 for the second time in two seasons.