Playing badly and still winning has been the talk of the town over in Catalonia as of late. Those 1:0 victories were never exactly thrilling but they got the job done. Barely, but they did. Tonight, however, we saw glimpses of the Barcelona we want to see every week: imposing, dominant, confident and protagonistic. Most of the time.

I say most of the time because Real Madrid still had their chances, of course, as they always do in a Clasico. They are where they are in world football for a reason. But just as they were shooting blanks in their most recent 1:0 defeat in the Copa, they were reduced to a similarly poor display at the Camp Nou this evening. Only this time, Barcelona actually controlled the ball, rather than just controlling the space. And this means we saw a far different Barça overall.

It also begs the question: do Barcelona really need to be the protagonist in every game? Well, it’s complicated. But generally, yes, yes they do. The reason is rather simple - being the protagonist, dominating, controlling the tempo and, as such, the game itself, is not only a part of the overarching philosophy of the club but, more importantly, is playing to their players’ greatest strengths.