El Clasico: 3 things Real Madrid should learn from their double home losses against the Barcelona.

#2 Barcelona faked themselves

Sergio Ramos clashes with Lionel Messi

Over the two matches, Barcelona made themselves look like any mid-table team from La Liga. They sat back, absorbed pressure and pounced on their opponent's mistakes. In the Copa Del Rey tie, Real dominated most of the match yet ended up with a 3-0 loss. How did this happen?

The answer is simple. Barcelona faked themselves. They came with a purpose; to get the job done. They knew about Real's defensive shortcomings and were more than ready to exploit them. In the first half of their recent Copa Del Rey encounter, Barcelona let Real come at them and were happy to defend. This made Real believe that they had the upper hand in the game. Nelson Semedo closed down the left wing as most of Real's attacks came through Reguilion and Vinicius. Barcelona's plan had worked to perfection thanks to Real's wasteful finishing. Had Real scored a goal or two in the first half, the whole outlook of the game would have changed.

In the second half, Barcelona showed their true colors. Their incisive passing and ruthless finishing were on full display as they tore apart Real's defense. Their third goal was a perfect example of this. Ousmane Dembele raced through the right wing and played a perfect cross which Varane could only guide into his own net.

Much was the same in the La Liga fixture. Barcelona patiently waited for the first 25 minutes and then suddenly changed gears. As real lost the ball high up the pitch, a swift counter-attack followed which culminated in Sergio Roberto playing in Ivan Rakitic whose delightful chipped finish opened the scoring. Real missed a lot of opportunities but Barcelona stayed firm and absorbed all the attacks and went onto claim the win.