We may only be 12 games into the La Liga season but Barcelona already hold a ten-point advantage over Real Madrid at the top of the table.

Ernesto Valverde’s men are playing with swagger and look favourites to reclaim the Spanish title. Los Blancos, on the other hand, were held by city rivals Atletico Madrid on Saturday night – leaving boss Zinedine Zidane now with a tough task of winning back-to-back domestic crowns.

Indifferent form for Karim Benzema and a dry spell in front of goal for Cristiano Ronaldo, in the league at least, will also be of concern for the Frenchman.

Here, we look at three key talking points from the weekend’s action.

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BARCA CHAMPIONS ALREADY?

This far from memorable Madrid derby was a great result for one team: Barcelona. The league leaders’ 3-0 win at Leganes earlier in the day, which saw Luis Suarez back on form with a brace, has sent them 10 points clear of the two Madrid teams. And although it’s only mid-November with 26 games still to play, the prospects of either side from the capital mounting the kind of run which would catapult them into first place currently look remote. Atletico, in particular, are desperately struggling in attack and rarely looked like scoring – even though they did have the game’s best two chances with Angel Correa’s early miss and Kevin Gameiro’s shot cleared off the line. Real clearly have quality in abundance but they’re just not clicking at the moment, with Karim Benzema’s ongoing poor form – and not just in front of goal – seeing many of their phases of possession break down tamely when they approach the opposition penalty area. Even now, Real need Barcelona to lose four games and then win every single remaining fixture, and right now Valencia look like posing the biggest title challenge.

Luis Suarez has found form again.

DID REAL SIGN THE WRONG HERNANDEZ?

In a game surprisingly bereft of genuine world-class individual ability, there was, at least, a great performance to savour from the left-back by the name of Hernandez. But this was not Theo Hernandez, signed controversially by Real from Atletico at great expense in the summer, but his older (by 20 months) brother Lucas, who was selected ahead of Filipe Luis for Atletico and more than justified that decision with an excellent all-round display. Lucas is a versatile player whose long-term future may well lie in the centre of defence, but the ability on the ball he showed in this encounter showed that he could also have a bright future at left-back, ironically the same position as his sibling Theo, who has been slow to settle at the Bernabeu. Technically, Lucas certainly looks a far better bet than Theo, who caught the eye with a series of barnstorming charges down the left flank during his loan spell with Alaves last season. You can, perhaps, even mischievously picture the scene of Florentino Perez calling Zinedine Zidane and saying: “Erm…you know we agreed to sign that young Hernandez lad from Atletico in the summer…what was his first name again?”

Colossal presence at the back: Lucas Hernandez.

GRIEZMANN AND BENZEMA’S STRUGGLES CONTINUE

Before the game, the big question was which mis-firing striker would recover their form first: Karim Benzema, Cristiano Ronaldo or Antoine Griezmann. The answer, though, was simple: none of them, as they all drew yet another blank. That’s perhaps a little harsh on Ronaldo, who at least occasionally looked like scoring as he had two free-kicks clawed away by Jan Oblak and a couple of goalbound strikes solidly blocked. Ronaldo still, incredibly, one has one league goal this season but that statistic will surely change very soon. Benzema and Griezmann, however, were a very different matter with both Frenchmen again producing poor performances, with Benzema appearing to be totally devoid of confidence while Griezmann sometimes looked like he couldn’t be bothered. That’s a strong accusation to level at any professional athlete but there’s a growing sense that Griezmann is regretting his decision to turn down Manchester United last summer, and that this season – especially with Barcelona reportedly interested – will prove to be his last with Atletico.

A frustrated figure: Griezmann.