Barcelona get 25th win at the Santiago Bernabeu

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Barcelona has won for the 25th time ever at the Santiago Bernabéu, and for the 30th time versus Real Madrid in Madrid. But perhaps most impressively, 10 of those wins have come in the last ten years alone (2009-2019).

El Clásico is not what they used to be, with Barça having experienced a major shift in success in Madrid in recent seasons. From 1902 to 2008, playing at Real Madrid very rarely produced a good result for the Catalans — just 20 wins at Real Madrid in 201 matches played over 107 seasons, yielding a paltry 19.6 winning percentage.

Those numbers help explain why Barça’s few wins there were celebrated with overwhelming enthusiasm, like Barça’s 5-0 rout in 1974 and a 3-0 victory in 1984.

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But the last ten years tell a different story altogether.

Led by Lionel Messi, Barça has turned the tables on the history books and has racked up a plethora of superb results in Real Madrid territory including a 6-2 win in 2009, a 2-0 victory in the 2011 Champions League semifinals, a 4-0 league triumph in 2015, and last season’s 3-0 win.

Over that span, Barça’s winning percentage at Real Madrid has skyrocketed. In 17 games played there, Barça have returned home with ten victories (588). There’s a new El Clásico in town.

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