You know how people say form goes out the window when El Clásico kicks off? Honestly, looking at the Real Madrid vs Barcelona last 5 matches, that's only half true. What we’ve actually seen is a massive power shift that happened so fast it left the Bernabéu spinning. Not long ago, Madrid was bullying everyone in Europe, but Hansi Flick’s arrival at Barça has turned this rivalry into something way more chaotic and high-scoring than we've seen in years.
Football is weird. One minute you're winning Champions Leagues, the next you’re getting dismantled at home by a bunch of teenagers from La Masia. If you’ve missed any of the recent drama, the results are kinda wild. We've seen everything from Kylian Mbappé’s frustrating debut to Raphinha turning into a world-beater overnight.
The Recent Shift in Real Madrid vs Barcelona Last 5 Matches
If we look at the most recent clash on January 11, 2026, it was a total heartbreaker for the Madridistas. Barcelona walked away with a 3-2 victory in the Spanish Super Cup final held in Jeddah. It was classic Flick ball: high defensive lines, relentless pressing, and Raphinha absolutely cooking on the wing. He scored twice, and even though Vinícius Júnior and Gonzalo García tried to drag Real back into it, Frenkie de Jong’s late red card didn't even stop Barça from holding on for the trophy.
Before that, we had the October 2025 league meeting. That one went Real Madrid's way, a narrow 2-1 win. It felt like a brief return to normalcy for Carlo Ancelotti’s men, but it didn’t last. The momentum in this fixture has been swinging like a pendulum.
The 2024-25 season was basically a "coming out party" for this new-look Barcelona. In May 2025, they played out a seven-goal thriller where Barça won 4-3. Just a few weeks before that, in April 2025, they met in the Copa del Rey final. Same story: Barcelona 3, Real Madrid 2. It's getting to the point where a 1-0 game feels impossible between these two.
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That 4-0 Drubbing at the Bernabéu
We have to talk about October 26, 2024. This was the night the world realized Hansi Flick wasn't playing around. Real Madrid entered the game as favorites—they had Mbappé, they had Vini, they had the home crowd. They left with a 0-4 loss that felt even worse than the scoreline.
Robert Lewandowski bagged a brace in two minutes. Lamine Yamal, who is basically a glitch in the matrix at this point, became the youngest scorer in the history of the fixture. Raphinha added the fourth. Mbappé? He spent most of the night caught in Barça’s offside trap. It was a tactical masterclass that effectively ended the "invincibility" aura Madrid had built up.
When Madrid Held the Upper Hand
It wasn't always this one-sided in favor of the Catalans. If you go back to April 2024, Real Madrid pulled off a 3-2 win that basically sealed the La Liga title for them. Jude Bellingham was the hero that night, scoring a stoppage-time winner that sent the Bernabéu into a frenzy.
That match was the peak of the Ancelotti era. Lucas Vázquez was playing like prime Cafu, and the team just found a way to win. Earlier that same year, in January 2024, Real Madrid absolutely smoked Barcelona 4-1 in the Supercopa. Vinícius Júnior scored a first-half hat-trick. It looked like Madrid was going to dominate this rivalry for the next decade.
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Funny how six months can change everything in football.
Breaking Down the Numbers
Let's look at the raw data for the Real Madrid vs Barcelona last 5 matches (as of early 2026):
- Jan 11, 2026 (Supercopa Final): Barcelona 3-2 Real Madrid
- Oct 26, 2025 (La Liga): Real Madrid 2-1 Barcelona
- May 11, 2025 (La Liga): Barcelona 4-3 Real Madrid
- Apr 26, 2025 (Copa del Rey Final): Barcelona 3-2 Real Madrid
- Jan 12, 2025 (Supercopa Final): Barcelona 5-2 Real Madrid
If you're counting, that's four wins for Barcelona and one for Real Madrid. In those five games, a staggering 25 goals were scored. That is an average of five goals per game. If you are betting on the "Under 2.5 goals" in an El Clásico these days, you’re basically throwing money away.
Tactical Evolution: The Flick Effect
Why has the tide turned? Basically, Barcelona stopped being scared. Under Xavi, there was often a sense of tactical rigidity. Hansi Flick brought a German intensity that Real Madrid’s midfield—now missing the calming presence of Toni Kroos—has struggled to contain.
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Madrid has all the individual talent in the world. Mbappé and Vinícius are arguably two of the top three players on the planet. But Barcelona is playing like a collective unit. Their high line is suicidal on paper, yet they’ve mastered the art of the offside trap so well that even the fastest forwards in the world are getting frustrated.
What This Means for the Future
The "Galactico" project 2.0 at Madrid is under immense pressure. While they still win most of their other games, losing repeatedly to your biggest rival is a stain that fans don't wash off easily. For Barcelona, this run has validated their youth-first approach. When you see Gavi, Pedri, and Yamal outworking a billion-dollar midfield, it changes the narrative of the sport.
The rivalry is currently at its most explosive point since the Guardiola-Mourinho days. We aren't seeing 0-0 draws or cagey tactical battles. We are seeing end-to-end chaos where the last team to score usually wins.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Analysts
If you are following the next few meetings, here is what to keep an eye on:
- Watch the Offside Count: Real Madrid’s success depends entirely on whether Mbappé and Vini can time their runs against Barça's high line. If they get caught 5+ times in the first half, it's usually over for Los Blancos.
- The Raphinha Factor: He has moved from a "maybe" player to the most influential attacker in the league. Stopping him is now as big a priority for Ancelotti as stopping Lewandowski.
- Midfield Transition: Madrid is still figuring out life after Kroos. Look for whether Valverde or Bellingham can drop deeper to dictate play, or if they continue to get bypassed by Barcelona's quick vertical passing.
The Real Madrid vs Barcelona last 5 matches have proven that names on the back of the jersey don't matter as much as the system on the pitch. Whether Madrid can adjust their tactics to handle the Flick press will be the defining story of the 2026 season.
Track the individual match lineups for the next Clásico specifically to see if Ancelotti moves to a more defensive 4-4-2 to counter the wing play, as his standard 4-3-3 has been exposed in three of the last four defeats. Keep an eye on the injury reports for Lamine Yamal, as Barça’s win rate drops significantly when the youngster isn't available to stretch the pitch.