Should'a made this down the line when the dust settled a bit.
I'm the guy who voted the 0-4. Yep. The 5-0 Real were an ill-defined mess with plenty of piss in their squad. We were far and away the best team in the world then too.
But the 0-4....the fact I put zero first in relation to the Bernabeu should say it all. Killed them without Messi. Every player performed good-to-great. And though premature to say maybe, but in the full gamut of the season, this could be the gap that wins us the league in the year that Simeone said his famous quote about Real winning it.
I think we were in the same boat thinking with our thin-squad, that if we got to Christmas within a game of Madrid, we can win it again. It's really hard to believe we're 6 points clear.
After stepping up a gear this season, this was the big game Neymar had to show it on the biggest level of all. He did it. Arguably, the same could be said about Iniesta after the upward trajectory of his performances. Pique, too, with all eyes on him, and the ferocious whistles from the start, eventually had them all quiet as a mouse. Sergi Roberto's 2nd game starting RW (the first, he had to move to CM almost immediately), and killed it. His assist setting the tone.
I could harp on, and the performance in the 5-0 was probably the most complete, but right now, this is untouchable to me.