For the third time this season and the second time this week, Barcelona has won El Clasico. On Saturday, Barca went into the Santiago Bernabeu and won again, beating Los Blancos in La Liga play 1-0 on an Ivan Rakitic goal. This followed Wednesday's 3-0 win over Real to move on to the Copa del Rey final.

It was another frustrating performance for Real where they wasted golden chances to get a result, and Barca made them pay with a first-half going being the difference. The win moves Barca 12 points clear of Real in the table and likely knocks Los Blancos out of title contention. Here are three takeaways:

Rakitic comes up big once again

Ivan Rakitic has scored some big goals for Barca, be it in the league or Champions League. And he did it again here with a lovely lofted ball 26 minutes in. With Sergio Ramos chasing him down, nobody expected the little lift of the ball over Thibaut Courtois. Take a look:

The Croatian midfielder made a fine run on the play, with a lovely ball from Sergi Roberto to take home the three points.

Real's scoring boots have gone missing against Barca

Look, sure there have been dominant scorelines, but these games have been closer than some of the scores indicate. You can't get closer and have a winner than 1-0, and Barca did beat Real 5-1 and 3-0 in other games this season, but it all boils down to what Real is failing to do in attack. Of course not having Cristiano Ronaldo makes a difference, but Real Madrid's scoring boots have gone missing. 

Real has 65 shots in four games against Barca, and for that just two goals. 

Los Blancos knocked out of title race with this one 

Real's definitely out of the title race now. They are 12 points ahead with 12 games to go, and while there are 36 points remaining, it's hard seeing Barca earning less than 20. Barca is on pace for 87 points, but let's say they get 80, meaning 20 points the rest of the way. That would require Real Madrid to get 33 out of the remaining 36 to win the league by a point. Yeah, it's safe to say that's almost impossible. 

So with that, Los Blancos will probably finish the season without a trophy. They are out of the Copa del Rey, look far from a contender in the Champions League and now they appear to have bowed out of the race in La Liga. 

Meanwhile, Barca is still alive in all three competitions. 


For news, stories, results and more, follow us:

- @CBSSportsSoccer - @RGonzalezCBS - Facebook