Xavi has no midfield, Real Madrid young guns rule the roost... THINGS WE LEARNED FROM EL CLASICO

It was the weekend of the first Clasico of the season and Real Madrid came away comfortable winners to move to the top of La Liga.

Carlo Ancelotti out-thought Xavi who will not need to be told that he has to change things if Barcelona are to stay in the title race.

Mailsport looks at 10 things we learned from the biggest game in Spain.

Xavi has no midfield

The irony of Barcelona’s greatest ever midfielder building a team that doesn’t have a midfield of any real substance might not be lost on club president Joan Laporta who expressed reservations about how ready Xavi was to take the big job back when he won the election.

Barça’s midfield of Pedri, Busquets and Gavi was over-run by a Real Madrid quartet of Kroos, Modric, Tchouameni and Valverde. If Xavi is to really rebuild Barcelona he needs to start from the part of the team he dominated for the best part of a decade.

Madrid’s next generation are ruling now

Toni Kroos tweeted that Fede Valverde was ‘top three in the world right now’ after Sunday afternoon’s performance. He scored his third goal against Barcelona and looks to be the present and the future of Real Madrid’s midfield.

With Eduardo Camavinga and Aurelien Tchouameni they already have those who will replace Toni Kroos and Luka Modric when they eventually step down.

Not signing Busquets’ replacement was Barcelona’s biggest summer mistake

All that money and not a single holding midfielder to replace a player who has needed replacing, or at least supporting, for the last two or three seasons.

They will try to do something in the winter window. Failing that it will be in the summer when Busquets’ leaving because he is at the end of his contract will give them no choice.

Hazard holds an unwanted record

It’s no longer a surprise but it remains extraordinary that after arriving for over 100m euros Eden Hazard has not played a single minute in any of the eight Clasicos that have taken place since he signed.

It’s Benzema now, it will be Vinicius soon

He didn’t score but Vinicius was Barcelona’s undoing. It was his break down the left and shot saved by Marc Andre ter Stegen that led to Benzema’s opening goal.

And it was his intelligent use of the ball in the move for the second goal that created the situation for Valverde to score from Mendy’s cross. He won’t be on the Balon d’Or podium yet but it surely will not be long.

The signings were over-hyped

Sure, it was thrilling for the supporters to see a team with no funds free up finances and then spend 150m euros, but the new players contributed nothing.

Marco Alonso and Franck Kessie were not picked to start the game; Raphinha failed to make an impact and was taken off; Andreas Christensen was injured, Jules Kounde maybe a little too recently back from injury and even Lewandowski unable to take his limited chances.

Meanwhile Sergio Roberto and Jordi Alba finished the game at full-back – weren’t they the full-back pair so in need of improving on several seasons back.

Eric has a problem

Maybe the answer is to move him forward and play him as Busquets’ replacement. At centre-back he too often gets caught out because of a lack of inches or because he’s is bullied by bigger forwards.

Xavi did try him in midfield in training last season before shelving the plan – maybe it’s time to dust it off as a viable option.

Madrid trying to win the league before the World Cup

It’s impossible of course, but the way they celebrated in front of their supporters on the final whistle, and yet never did more than was necessary to win the game, reserving energy for what’s to come suggests a determination to leave the campaign theirs to lose when we break for the World Cup.

They will have lots of players in action in Qatar and if Brazil or France win the tournament they will have several having to deal with the emotional fatigue of achieving the biggest things in their careers – they want a decent lead to fall back on.

Even Barça didn’t believe it was the referee’s fault

President Joan sought out the referee after the defeat and according to Cadena Ser had to be asked to leave his dressing room after insisting he wanted explanations as to why a first half Robert Lewandowski penalty claim did not go to VAR.

Sporting Director Jordi Cruyff also spoke about decisions but there was a lack of conviction in his polite claims. Meanwhile the players and Xavi stayed silent – players and ex-players alike know it was not about the match officials this time.

It’s not going to get any easier for Barcelona

They have Villarreal in midweek and then Athletic Bilbao next weekend with former manager Ernesto Valverde (remember him sacked despite winning two league titles in two seasons) bringing his team to the Camp Nou.

Osasuna and Valencia are also on the horizon before the break – not to mention that game against Bayern which may or may not be largely irrelevant if they are already out of the Champions League. The road ahead looks tough for Barca.