El Clasico: 5 times Barcelona outclassed Real Madrid

#2 Barcelona 6-2 Real Madrid, 2009

Thierry Henry scored in ways only Thierry Henry could.

If a single game had to be pinpointed as the start of Barcelona's long era of dominance under Pep Guardiola, look no further than this fixture.

The Barcelona of today becomes a different beast when they play at the Santiago Bernabeu, and this game was, to an extent, an initiation of sorts.

Gonzalo Higuain scored early on in the match to give the Galacticos the lead, and it did look like Real Madrid would burst the Guardiola bubble.

Thierry Henry and Lionel Messi had other ideas.

Both forwards, starting the match on either wing, scored on either side of the break to give the Catalans yet another resounding victory. This match also marks one of the rare occasions where Barcelona's defensive lynchpins Carles Puyol and Gerard Pique both got on to the scoresheet. Sergio Ramos pulled one back later in the game, but it proved to be a mere consolation in the end.

In a nutshell, this game was "the first of many", in several different ways. Lionel Messi was at his unplayable best, as is the norm today, and Los Blancos were simply unable to deal with the Argentine genius.