Real Madrid brushes Barcelona aside in enthralling Clasico

It was frenetic, for all 90 minutes. It was feisty, right from the opening whistle. It had the touch of class the world comes to expect from two teams comprised of such magnificent players - the best on the planet.

It was, simply, El Clasico. And on this day in the Spanish capital, it was Real Madrid who put in the classic performance.

"The team worked very hard. I liked a lot of the things that we did. Everyone played well," Carlo Ancelotti said after the match. "This is the most professional team I’ve ever coached. They focus, work, and train well."

It finished 3-1. Los Blancos will feel aggrieved that it wasn't more.

The big question in the build-up to this mouthwatering clash surrounded the participation of Luis Suarez. Would he play at all? Yes, manager Luis Enrique confirmed on Friday. Interesting. How many minutes would he get, though? The starting lineups revealed that the Uruguyan would indeed start the match. Surprising. How impactful would he be? It took him three minutes to answer.

That perfect cross-field ball was all the indication the world needed. Suarez hasn't missed a beat. Barcelona's front three is going to slice through opposing defenses at will this season.

That Blaugrana back-line, though. The team came into the match without conceding a goal in eight league matches. Were they really that good, or had they benefited from some weak opposition? 

Real Madrid made it a point to prove that the latter is true. A team with so much talent, in front of 85,000 boisterous supporters, in this match, was never going to whimper after going behind early.

Karim Benzema rose highest to meet a cross from Marcelo (a common occurrence on this day) and was denied only by the bar. His rebound flicked the post and flew into the crowd. It was coming.

An inexcusable hand ball from Gerard Pique left the referee with no choice but to appease the whistles of the Bernabeu faithful. He (correctly) pointed to the spot. Cristiano Ronaldo from 12 yards out is football's equivalent to death and taxes. All square at the half.

Forty-five minutes down. A quick breather. A chance for color commentator Ray Hudson to revisit his hefty thesaurus in preparation for the second stanza.

Real Madrid made him use all of it.

"Pepe rises like a beautiful salmon out of a fresh summer stream," Hudson proclaimed, in only the way he can, when the Portuguese defender put the hosts up 2-1 with a bullet header in the 50th minute.

Then, the pièce de résistance 11 minutes later.

(Courtesy: Reddit)

Counter-attacking 101. Class was in session. Isco, the best player on the pitch, gave the lecture and handed out the final exams. Barcelona failed.

Were it not for some wayward passing late in the contest, Claudio Bravo would have been picking the ball out of his net at least a couple more times. Such was the dominance of Carlo Ancelotti's men.

The world sat back and enjoyed the spectacle that is El Clasico. Today, only one team lived up to that moniker.