A 1–0 away win over Barcelona moved Real Madrid up one place in the La Liga standings, overtaking Villarreal to claim second, though they still trailed Barcelona by as many as seven points.
Many media outlets and Real Madrid fans eagerly hoped Guardiola's team would be badly shaken by their setback in El Clásico and go on to drop more points in the matches that followed.
But the facts proved that not just any team could intercept Barcelona the way Real Madrid had.
A week after El Clásico, La Liga entered its fourteenth round.
Barcelona visited Osasuna.
In the twenty-fifth minute of the first half, Pedro received an assist from Messi and opened the scoring for Barcelona.
After the sides switched ends in the second half, Messi received an assist from David Villa in the sixty-fourth minute and doubled the score to 2–0.
Then, in the eighty-second minute, Messi won a penalty and converted it himself, making it 3–0.
In the end, Barcelona defeated Osasuna 3–0 away from home, with Messi scoring twice and providing an assist.
At almost the same time, Real Madrid welcomed Valencia to the Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid.
Yang Yang started this match. It was his second start of the season. The previous one had come against Osasuna, when he was injured and substituted after only two minutes on the pitch.
Los Murciélagos decisively adopted an attacking strategy from the outset. Although they had sold Villa and David Silva that summer, Valencia had quickly produced new talents such as Juan Mata, Soldado, and Alba. With Joaquin already in the squad, Valencia's overall strength remained considerable.
The two sides struggled in a stalemate for nearly half an hour. Then, in the twenty-eighth minute, Real Madrid organized an attack. Their move down the right failed, forcing them