Barcelona's dream is Real Madrid's worst nightmare! Winners and losers as red-hot Marcus Rashford surely seals permanent transfer by delivering La Liga title in El Clasico

It's official: Barcelona are La Liga champions once again - and in the end it was all very predictable. The runaway leaders only needed a point as the fixture schedule gave them the unique opportunity to retain their crown against Real Madrid in El Clasico, but they never looked like settling for a draw against their rudderless rivals, who are in the midsts of a dressing room crisis. The victory was swift and brutal, as Hansi Flick's side required just 20 minutes to put the game and the title beyond their old foes at Spotify Camp Nou.

There was an air of inevitability to the result as the buoyant Blaugrana came up against an opponent that had seemingly thrown in the towel weeks ago in the title race, and the hosts quickly imposed themselves on proceedings. Just nine minutes had elapsed when the impressive Marcus Rashford stepped up to a free-kick and crashed a shot that dipped devilishly beyond Thibaut Courtois' despairing dive and into the top corner.

Barca sensed blood and it was

While they will be

GOAL breaks down the winners & losers from Spotify Camp Nou as the title stays in Catalonia...

WINNER: Hansi Flick

How mightily deserved this was for the German. His Barcelona tenure has been more or less electric from day one. He has taken a possession-first side that looked a little lost and made them a thrilling attacking unit.

This was, quite sneakily, one of the best showings of the season; for all of the talk of Madrid's injury issues, Barca, too, were thin up front, at right-back, and in midfield. There was no Lamine Yamal, not much Raphinha, and Robert Lewandowski came off the bench.

Throw in the tragic news that Flick's father passed away overnight, and this seems a remarkable job of coaching on the day. It's now back-to-back titles, and a third is surely in sight in 2026-27 given the state Madrid find themselves in. He's here until at least 2028, and the Blaugrana will be thrilled to have him.

LOSER: Alvaro Arbeloa

What was Arbeloa really supposed to do here? The Spaniard was handed a bit of an impossible job in the first place, tasked with conjuring miracles out of a group that didn't really want to play for anyone but themselves. He decided to go for a similar approach here as he has done for months - get his best names out on the pitch and hope they can piece something together. And they couldn't.

Arbeloa spent most of the game spectating rather than coaching, a man watching from afar while a football match happened - an event totally out of his control. To be clear, neither this loss nor this season is on him (despite his repeated insistence that he should take the blame).

Madrid are wounded, outclassed, and rotten to the core

WINNER: Marcus Rashford

Amid all the talk about

Starting out of position on the right of Barca's front three, the Englishman was electric from the first whistle, causing Madrid left-back Fran Garcia all sorts of problems.

If the Man Utd loanee is playing for his future at Spotify Camp Nou then he has hit form at just the right time (four goals and one assist in his last six league games), and this crowning performance in El Clasico should go some way to making a cut-price permanent transfer a no-brainer for Barcelona's cash-strapped decision-makers.

LOSER: Kylian Mbappe

Long before a ball was kicked in Sunday night's Clasico it was evident that at least one big name would be conspicuously absent from the contest. That list was headlined by Kylian Mbappe, who failed to recover from a hamstring injury in time to play.

While it was already bad enough that Real were shorn of La Liga's top-scorer in a must-win clash with their fierce rivals, the news came against the backdrop of the furore surrounding

The attacker had returned to training ahead of the showdown with Barca, having not featured since the meeting with Real Betis on April 24, but clearly wasn't deemed fit enough. Given the scrutiny around Los Blancos at the moment, this probably isn't the last we've heard of this particular saga.

WINNER: English football

One subplot of many in the Clasico, this will be considered a significant night for English football as three of the country's biggest names turned out in what is arguably the biggest fixture in club football for the first time ever.

Barca's Man Utd loanee Rashford and Real Madrid duo Jude Bellingham and Trent Alexander-Arnold can consider themselves trailblazers as they all started under the lights - a reflection of the calibre of player England has produced in recent years.

Three Lions boss Thomas Tuchel would have been a keen observer as a result, and Rashford's star turn will have caught his eye for sure.

LOSER: Fede Valverde

Valverde would have been a key figure in the Madrid line-up at Spotify Camp Nou, but - like Mbappe - he was ruled out long before kick-off after finding himself at the centre of an incredibly ugly dressing room incident this week.

A clash with his midfield colleague Aurelien Tchouameni - who, incidentally, was involved in Sunday's XI - resulted in the Uruguayan being hospitalised with a head injury after he "accidentally hit a table" at Valdebebas,

Whatever happened behind closed doors,