Lesson learned for Ancelotti as Real Madrid beat Barcelona

MADRID: Carlo Ancelotti learned his lesson, and Real Madrid won the “clasico” on Sunday.

After an embarrassing 4-0 loss at home to Barcelona last season, the Madrid coach made sure he didn’t try anything different with his team this time as Madrid won 3-1 to take the lead of the Spanish league.

It also handed Barcelona another painful blow four days after the Catalan club’s hopes of advancing in the Champions League all but ended.

Ancelotti had used midfielder Luka Modric in the “false nine” position in attack last season and Barcelona took advantage to rout Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.

“I thought about what happened last season, when I tried something different,” Ancelotti said. “For this match, I didn’t try to come up with anything, I left the players in their positions and Modric played a spectacular match in midfield.”

Karim Benzema and Federico Valverde scored first-half goals, and Rodrygo added another in second-half stoppage time as the defending champions won the first “clasico” of the season to move three points ahead of Barcelona in the league standings. The rivals had entered the match tied on points, with Barcelona ahead on goal difference.

It was Madrid’s sixth win in the last seven “clasicos,” with the only setback the 4-0 result the last time the teams met at the Bernabeu.

Sunday’s defeat was another frustrating setback for Barcelona after it was held 3-3 by Inter Milan at home on Wednesday to be virtually eliminated from the Champions League with two rounds left in its group stage.

“We had our chances, but we are going through a bad moment and nothing goes our way,” Barcelona coach Xavi Hernández said. “We need to change this dynamic as soon as possible.”

Barcelona didn’t advance to