Barcelona Set Up Perfect Storm of Humiliation for Real Madrid in El Clasico
Barcelona’s record-breaking start to La Liga has brought them to the precipice of a new kind of humiliation for Real Madrid; having a 58-year club record broken under the white-hot spotlight of El Clásico.
Hansi Flick’s imperious entertainers romped to a 5–2 victory against Real Betis on Saturday, extending their perfect run to nine straight La Liga wins. No club in the history of the competition has ever made it to double digits, while the Real Madrid vintage of 1968–69 stands as the only other team to match Barça’s current run.
Thanks to that mischievous fixture computer, Barcelona have the chance to surpass Madrid’s high watermark in next Sunday’s Clásico against Los Blancos themselves.
The Longest Winning Starts in La Liga History
Season | Club | Wins |
|---|---|---|
2026–27 | Barcelona | 9* |
1968–69 | Real Madrid | 9 |
2013–14 | Atlético Madrid | 8 |
2013–14 | Barcelona | 8 |
1987–88 | Real Madrid | 8 |
1961–62 | Real Madrid | 8 |
* Ongoing.
Beyond the results Barcelona have achieved, the manner of these victories is all the more staggering. The handful of goals racked up against Betis was the sixth time this season that Flick’s side have scored five or more times in a single game. For comparison, Real Madrid have managed that feat just three times since the start of last season.
Barcelona are ticking along at a ridiculous average of 4.3 goals per game across all competitions, with 13 different goalscorers to thank for this output. Even in the absence of their talismanic forward Raphinha, the defending Spanish champions have continued to plunder all before them.
However, the chaotic triumph over Betis also exposed the weaknesses which exist in this winning machine.
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‘We Can Improve’—Rodri Fires Warning to Barcelona Teammates
For all Barcelona’s abundant offensive threat, they remain defensively vulnerable. “The team consistently shows its attacking potential, but we’re conceding too many goals,” Rodri fretted after watching his side concede twice in Seville. “That’s an area where we can improve.”
Barcelona have kept just one clean sheet in their last seven games, conceding nine goals during that leaky span. This is no new phenomenon; Flick has not seen his side shut out a Champions League opponent since April 2025.
In a way, this is to be expected. Flick is taking a calculated risk by setting his side up with an adventurous high press which leaves so much space in behind their backline. The gamble is that Barcelona will, more often than not, win the ball back in the final third to catch the opposition in transition rather than give the opponent the chance to run through on goal themselves.
This season, the bet has come off every time: Barcelona are on a perfect run of 11 straight wins. Yet, elite clubs have repeatedly proven capable of finding a way to pierce the Catalans’ flimsy resolve.
Rodri’s signing was meant to shore up this side of the game, but as the summer recruit would freely admit, one player cannot change an entire system built with this inherent sense of risk.
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