Real Madrid 2-0 Barcelona: 5 talking points as Los Blancos dominate

4. Barcelona desperately miss Luis Suarez

Quique Setién actually got his tactics right. He went with a 4-4-2 with Arturo Vidal in midfield and with Antoine Griezmann and Lionel Messi up top.

His team had the better of the ball in the first-half and should have scored a couple of goals before the break. The lack of finishing proves that they miss Luis Suarez and no one in the current squad is an adequate replacement.

Despite coming under criticism for missing a few chances himself, the Uruguayan offers something that others don’t. He would have put away some of the chances the team created.

He would have been able to drag along defenders and not only open more lanes for the midfield but also take some of the attention away from Lionel Messi.

It’s another loss where Barcelona were the better team. They were the better team against Real Madrid. The better team in the Supercup loss against Atletico Madrid that led to Ernesto Valverde’s sacking and the better team in their Copa del Rey elimination against Athletic Bilbao.

In this match, Barcelona created about five clear goal scoring opportunities. Credit to Thibaut Courtois for coming up clutch but Barcelona usually put at least two of those away.

Suarez is unlikely to be back this season so someone other than Lionel Messi is going to need to step and contribute goals.