Real Madrid - 0 Barcelona - 3: The curse of the ones who got away continues to afflict Real Madrid as the galactico model threatens to collapse into a third season of empty-handed ridicule.
Florentino Perez's presidential policy has again been brought to its knees as Madrid were outclassed, with two men who could easily have worn white their chief tormentors: Samuel Eto'o and Ronaldinho.
The pair cost Barcelona almost £50 million, but the cost to Madrid, who could have secured them for a fraction of the price, has proven far greater. Victory allowed Barcelona to open a four-point lead and leaves Madrid licking substantial wounds.
Eto'o, as determined as ever here, where his every move and gesture screams vengeance, opened the scoring on 15 minutes, and Ronaldinho added two marvellous goals to secure a win that flattered Madrid: 23 shots to five tells the tale.
Completely inoperative, the home side did not have a shot on goal until the 75th minute.
With each passing game, Zinedine Zidane looks like a player who used to be a star. Beckham, so wonderfully effective on the right, was inexplicably back in the middle alongside Pablo Garcia. And Ronaldo was as anonymous as he was slow and fat.
The only resistance to Barcelona attacks came from the Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas. But for Casillas, they could have conceded six or seven goals.
Instead there were just three, although the quality certainly made up for that. Ronaldinho scored two goals so wonderful that even Madrid's fans stood and applauded.
Picking up the ball inside his half in the 59th minute, the Brazilian burst down the line, left Sergio Ramos for dead, cut inside, glided past Ivan Helguera and beat Casillas at the near post with a cool finish.
Just over 10 minutes later he was dashing into the same channel, again beating Ramos and slotting into the other corner.
For all the superstars who have arrived in Madrid, the ones who have got away have proven traumatic, and Eto'o and Ronaldinho really hurt; the catalyst for a power shift from Castile to Catalonia that was made so brutally apparent at the Bernabeu.
Madrid turned Ronaldinho down in the summer of 2003. Eto'o, who joined Madrid as a 15-year-old, arriving unknown and unmet at Barajas airport, has made no secret of his fury at the club that told him there was no room at the inn before selling him to Barcelona. Last May, Eto'o celebrated Barca's league title by singing "Madrid, you bastards, bow down before the champions".
And if Perez needed any proof of his folly, of what he is missing, it came in the shape of the two men's celebrations on Saturday. Eto'o stood arm straight and fist clenched, like Tommie Smith at the 1968 Olympics, his opener yet another vindication of his talent and his colour. Ronaldinho beamed and giggled as he took the plaudits from an audience that wishes he was one of theirs. He had destroyed them, but genius melts the hardest of hearts. Power has truly shifted.
REAL MADRID: Casillas; Salgado, Helguera, Ramos, Roberto Carlos; Robinho, Beckham, Garcia (Baptista, 67), Zidane; Ronaldo, Raul (Guti, 58). Subs not used: Lopez, Bravo, Mejia, Pavon, Diogo.
BARCELONA: Valdes; Oleguer, Puyol, Marquez, Gio; Edmilson, Xavi, Deco; Messi (Iniesta, 70), Eto'o, Ronaldinho. Subs not used: Jorquera, Sylvinho, Gabri, Motta, Giuly, Larsson.
Referee: E Iturralde Gonzalez.
Guardian Service
