Barcelona vs Real Madrid: 5 Talking Points & Tactical Analysis of El Clasico

#2 Jordi Alba's positioning causes Real Madrid problems

Jordi Alba provided the assist for Barcelona's opening goal

As soon as the match kicked off, Jordi Alba was already at it for Barcelona. The Spanish left-back parked himself near the touchline on the left and sowed the seeds of doubt in Real Madrid on the wide pitch at the Camp Nou.

Whenever Barcelona won the ball in midfield, Alba skulked forward and was pretty much ignored as Real failed to sense his presence.

And it paid off for Barcelona handsomely when they kept the ball for ages and suddenly sprung forward in the 11th minute. A quick diagonal ball to Alba tore open Real's defence as the scampered to reset their defensive line in the box.

However, there was space between the two lines and Alba's cutback was perfect for the arriving Philippe Coutinho to direct the ball home past Thibaut Courtois.

30 - There were 30 passes made in the build-up to Philippe Coutinho’s goal for @FCBarcelona against Real Madrid, the most of any goal in #ElClasico in @LaLigaEN since at least 2005/06. Tiki-Taka. pic.twitter.com/X71FN2kOFV

— OptaJose (@OptaJose) October 28, 2018

Alba's positioning saw Gareth Bale switch flanks to track his runs and it effectively negated the Welshman's threat. Bale was closer to the half-line than the final third and even put in a shift defensively, much to Real's disadvantage in the attack.

Barcelona could have gone into the break 3-0 up had Rafinha released Alba in what was yet another good run into space but the pass was far too close to Courtois who raced off his line to mop up.