Barça Rewind: 75 years since 5-0 against Madrid

75 years since a historic win. On March 25, 1945, Barça beat Real Madrid 5-0 at Les Corts on the 21st match day of the 1944/45 league season.

It was a memorable match, and to begin with Los Blancos weathered an onslaught from Barça. However, in the second half they were overwhelmed, and, as published in a newspaper at the time, when the fifth and final goal went in, scored by Marià Gonzalvo four minutes from the end, "the excitement overflowed onto the pitch and the bleachers took on the whitish colour of thousands and thousands of handkerchiefs that stirred the public who were expressing their contentment and satisfaction with the work done by the Barça players."

The Barça lineup on that historic day was: Quique, Elías, Benito, Calvet, Sans, Gonzalvo II, Valle, Escolà, César, Gonzalvo III and Bravo. Caesar (41 ', 46'), Bravo (52 '), Escolà (77') and Gonzalvo III (86 ') were the scorers, and the win saw Barça extend their lead at the top of the table to three points over Real Madrid.

That season, FC Barcelona ended up winning the league title after sixteen years without doing so. With Josep Samitier as coach, the team played at a consistently high level throughout the campaign, though it wouldn't be until the penultimate day (May 13, 1945), in the match played at Les Corts against Athletic Club and in which Barça won 5-2, that they could claim the championship.