'The balls' to play a high line! Barcelona's Marc Casado in awe of Hansi Flick's tactics which were crucial to El Clasico victory at Real Madrid

Following Barca's El Clasico triumph on Saturday, midfielder Casado said it took a lot of "balls" from manager Flick to play with such a high defensive line in the contest. However, it worked as Los Blancos star Kylian Mbappe alone was caught offside on eight occasions against the Blaugrana.

He said, via Marca: "It's incredible to have the balls to have such a high defensive line. We've been doing it all season, the defensive work of this team is spectacular. It's incredible and at the moment it's working for us."

Flick took over from Xavi as Barcelona boss in the summer and so far he has had an excellent start at the Catalan outfit. He has won 12 games and lost just two in all competitions. They are firing in the Champions League and are six points clear at the top of La Liga, too.

Flick's in-form Barca are next in La Liga action on Sunday at home to Espanyol, before travelling to Serbia on November 6 to take on Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League.