Barcelona came back from a goal down to humiliate Real Madrid in front of 80,000 fans on Madrid's home ground with a performance that left no doubt about the vast gulf in class between the two teams.
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Barcelona's Thierry Henry (L) shoots to score past Real Madrid's goalkeeper Iker Casillas during their Spanish first division soccer match at Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid May 2, 2009. |
Despite taking an early lead through a Gonzalo Higuain header after 13 minutes, Madrid always looked second best.
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Barcelona's Thierry Henry (L) celebrates his goal with his team mate Samuel Eto'o during their Spanish first division soccer match against Madrid at Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid May 2, 2009 |
Barcelona went ahead after 19 minutes when Carles Puyol headed home a Xavi Hernandez free kick.
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Barcelona's Gerard Pique (R) celebrates his goal as Real Madrid's Gonzalo Higuain watches during their Spanish First Division soccer match at Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid May 2, 2009. |
The Barcelona striker took advantage of an error from Madrid's Lassana Diarra to stride forward and coolly beat Casillas.
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Barcelona's Lionel Messi (R) shoots a goal towards Real Madrid's goalkeeper Iker Casillas during their Spanish first division soccer match at Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid May 2, 2009 |
From then on it was just a question of how many goals Barcelona would score.
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Barcelona's Lionel Messi (top) celebrates his goal with his team mate Xavi Hernandez during their Spanish first division soccer match against Madrid at Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid May 2, 2009 |
To Real Madrid's credit, their players kept working until the final whistle, but Barcelona is quite simply a much better team.
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Barcelona's Thierry Henry and Daniel Alves (R) celebrate a goal against Real Madrid during their Spanish first division soccer match at Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid May 2, 2009 |