Barcelona thrash Real Madrid as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang bags brace in El Clasico mauling

Real Madrid were humiliated by rivals Barcelona in a 4-0 defeat on Sunday night in an El Clasico where some will question which of the sides are nine points clear at the top of the La Liga.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored the opener for Barca in the 29th minute when he managed to beat his man at the front post and divert his header past the helpless Thibaut Courtois from close range. Ronald Araujo was then left unmarked from a corner to double his side’s lead just nine minutes later.

Xavi’s Barca turned on the class in the second half and very easily could have won the match by six or seven if they were more clinical in the closing stages. Former Manchester City forward Ferran Torres whipped a fine strike into the top corner just moments after the half-time break following a skilful assist from Aubameyang.

The summer signings then combined to score the fourth when Torres played a neat pass through to Aubameyang, who beat the offside trap and looped a cute chip over Courtois and into the back of the net. There were plenty of talking points to come out of this memorable El Clasico, Mirror Football takes a look at five talking points...

Without Karim Benzema spearheading their attack, Real Madrid looked lost. They changed their system numerous different times to try and provide something in the final third. Both Vinicius Jr and Rodrygo are excellent Brazilian wingers, but neither Luka Modric nor Mariano Diaz could get the very best out of the young prospects.

Although a lot of Madrid’s issues were in defence, their attack was incredibly underwhelming as well. Carlo Ancelotti’s side were no longer pressing from the front and instead, there were several Barcelona stars running forward and past the flat-footed