Vinicius Jr. gazes at a beach ball on the Camp Nou pitch / Valentí Enrich
Barcelona are La Liga champions. They sealed the title at home, against their eternal rivals, in thoroughly deserved fashion. Hansi Flick’s side earned their reward at Camp Nou despite missing key players — just like Real Madrid — but with a unity rarely found at the highest level. Just ask Álvaro Arbeloa, who, amid the fires he’s had to manage recently, looks more like a firefighter than a coach.
The Real Madrid boss walked into Camp Nou to witness his team’s final death throes. The collective feeling was that Barcelona would claim this league title in front of their own fans against Madrid — not just because they were playing better football than the visitors (they were), but because of the chaotic week that had unfolded in the Spanish capital.
From Rüdiger slapping Carreras to the physical brawl between Valverde and Tchouaméni — which ended with the Uruguayan being taken to hospital after splitting his head open on a table — the tension boiled over. Although the white captain denied that punches were thrown, almost every leak from the Madrid dressing room suggests that fists did fly.
A fan holds a banner depicting Valverde and Tchouaméni before the clásico / Valentí Enrich
Violence wasn’t the only issue Arbeloa had to confront. He surprised everyone when, before condemning the incident, he dropped a line for the ages: “I once had a teammate who hit another with a golf club.” He also expressed concern that the fight would leak beyond the dressing room walls.
The Salamanca-born coach also had to deal with multiple acts of disrespect — some aimed at him personally. Several media outlets reported that Spanish players who don’t get game time call him “cono” (cone), while others targeted the club and squad, embodied by Kylian Mbappé. The Frenchman managed to unite friends and enemies alike in an online petition calling for him to leave the club, gathering tens of millions of signatures.
Mbappé, oblivious to everything happening at Valdebebas, chose to enjoy life away from Madrid while recovering — and didn’t make it back in time for the Clásico. Few Madrid fans expected a recovery, assuming he would skip a match where he had little to gain. And so it was, though at least he turned on the TV to watch. According to the player’s own social media post, Madrid were already 2-0 down by the time he tuned in.
Barcelona players celebrate in euphoria / Valentí Enrich
With a battered image, no Valverde, no Mbappé, and a team emotionally beaten, Real Madrid walked onto the Camp Nou pitch hoping simply to avoid a thrashing. Dean Huijsen was added to the absentee list at the last minute — he was in the starting XI but couldn’t take the field.
Within 20 minutes, Barcelona led 2-0. Culés expected an even bigger rout, but Flick’s side didn’t pile on more misery. That was Arbeloa’s Madrid’s “reward” at a Camp Nou that started chanting “let them fight, let them fight” and ended with the iconic “champions, champions” — while a beach ball briefly halted play. Hernández Hernández didn’t add a single second of stoppage time. Why bother? Madrid had nothing left to give. A Madrid that, by the way, if Florentino had his way, would already be coached by Mourinho.
