2-2

And hope the opposition don't convert their chances into goals.

Not necessarily. As long as you create more chances than the opposition and then convert them then you should win. Your team Real had more chances than Barcelona. If you had taken your chances you should have won.

"As long as you create more" is pretty operative there. I haven't rewatched any of the match or run a count, but Barça definitely had their fair share of opportunities too. Regardless of whether it's a couple more or a couple less, creating a similar amount of chances to Barça is an achievement in itself.

The main difference with previous clásicos was that this time we had a much more attacking mindset. It's something many Madrid fans had been crying out for for a long time. The 5-0 defeat in our 1st clásico under Mourinho weighed much too heavily on his decisions imo. Barça played an absolutely perfect match that night (possibly the best club performance I've ever seen), and we weren't exactly on song.

Defeat against Barça is never easy to take, but as a Madrid fan I'm much happier with last night's performance than any of the others we've put in under Mourinho.

You have scored more goals than Barca so far. You are creating more chances. You just need to be disciplined and focused when playing Barca. Your players are so tense when they go on the pitch playing Barca. In other games they play with more confidence.

Good luck.

We're doing fine in the league. Considering how far ahead of the rest the big two are, 5 points is a very big gap - but it's still only the half-way stage. Our being out of the cup might even help a bit. There'll be two weeks now where Barça will have to play Valencia while we can focus fully on La Liga - dont know the exact league fixtures they've got those weeks, but they could be dropping more points if Valencia push them hard in the cup.

How about you guys - you seem to alternate good wins with defeats to sides you shouldn't be losing against. Do you think you've got a realistic shot at a CL spot for next season?