After Vinícius left the pitch, Real Madrid head coach Zidane immediately made adjustments.
Rodrygo was sacrificed for Martin Ødegaard, while Luka Modrić made way for the defensive steel of Casemiro.
It was glaringly obvious that Zidane was shifting the team's structural focus toward sheer defensive solidity.
Once play resumed, Barcelona's attack, smelling blood against ten men, became noticeably fiercer.
Sergio Busquets threaded a desperate pass to Frenkie de Jong in midfield, and the Dutch metronome quickly swept it out wide to Antoine Griezmann.
Without taking a single touch to settle it, Griezmann instantly clipped a first-time pass toward the central channel.
Lionel Messi received it in stride.
After Modrić's departure, Theodore Bjorn's positional responsibilities had shifted slightly higher up the pitch into a more advanced playmaking role, leaving his previous defensive pivot position occupied by Casemiro.
But it was immediately apparent that the Brazilian enforcer's current mobility could not compare to Theodore's freakish athleticism.
The absolute instant Messi received the ball, Casemiro rushed out aggressively to close him down, yet with a devastating drop of the shoulder, Messi executed a humiliating nutmeg, slipping the ball straight through Casemiro's legs.
Fortunately for Madrid, just as Messi bypassed the Brazilian, Theodore hit his top speed, sprinting over at terrifying speed to arrive directly beside the Argentine.
The exact moment Messi attempted to accelerate into the vacated space, Theodore leaned in and utilized his massive frame to forcefully shoulder-barge Messi off the ball.
Referee José Sánchez waved his arms emphatically, judging it a fair, physical challenge, and signaled for play to continue.
Seeing there was no whistle, Theodore didn't pause for a breath.
He decisively launched a raking, 50-yard diagonal pass toward the front line.
Bang!
Seconds later, the ball dropped perfectly into the path of Martin Ødegaard.
This was the terrifying reality of Theodore's existence on the pitch.
As long as he received the ball in midfield, he could instantaneously shift the speed of Real Madrid's transition from zero to a hundred.
One second earlier, it was a highly dangerous Barcelona attacking phase.
One second later, Real Madrid were bearing down on the opposition penalty area with lethal intent.
On the right flank, Theodore's international teammate seamlessly controlled the pass and immediately shaped his body to shoot.
Anticipating the strike, Jordi Alba recklessly threw himself into a sliding block.
But Ødegaard's footballing IQ was elite, he changed his attacking intention in a fraction of a second.
The shooting motion was a complete feint, translating into a delicate touch forward.
Just like that, Ødegaard elegantly bypassed Alba's desperate challenge.
Taking one more touch with his left foot, he broke cleanly into the Barcelona penalty area.
Before center-backs Clément Lenglet and Gerard Piqué could step across to close the angle, Ødegaard pulled the trigger.
The ball flashed violently through the microscopic gap between the two defenders, ripping fiercely into the far corner of the net!
6–2!
"Real Madrid counterattack! GOAL!" Rob Palmer screamed across the global broadcast.
"The substitute Martin Ødegaard finds the net!"
"And would you look at who provided the assist? It is Theodore Bjorn once again!"
"That is a perfect hat-trick of goals AND a hat-trick of assists tonight! He has directly contributed to six goals against Barcelona!"
"This night belongs entirely to the eighteen-year-old Norwegian!" Terry Gibson added in sheer awe.
After scoring, Ødegaard sprinted directly toward Theodore, the two compatriots embracing tightly near the corner flag.
On the live comment feeds, fans worldwide were already celebrating the historic rout in advance.
"Oh my god! How many years has it been since Madrid beat Barça by a cricket score?!"
"A hat-trick of goals and a hat-trick of assists in the same match… This is actually illegal!"
"This match officially ends the debate. Theodore is currently the greatest footballer on the planet!"
"The craziest part is he can not only score, but he can also completely pocket Messi defensively. That's just too strong!"
"Keep scoring! Don't stop! Destroy Barcelona!"
In the Bernabéu stands, eighty-five thousand Real Madrid fans bowed toward the pitch, rhythmically chanting Theodore's name.
Although Ødegaard had applied the finishing touch this time, the Madridistas understood perfectly well that without Theodore stripping Messi of the ball and delivering that otherworldly pass, Ødegaard would never have had the chance to shoot.
On the Real Madrid bench, Zidane and his assistant coaches were laughing, clapping each other on the back.
The immense weight that always hung over Zidane's heart during El Clásico had finally evaporated.
...
On the Barcelona bench, however, Koeman's coaching staff looked physically ill.
Their eyes were hollow, reflecting an endless, suffocating despair.
On the pitch, Lionel Messi still refused to capitulate, but he didn't shout at his teammates.
Instead, he stood in agonizing silence, hands resting heavily on his hips, his head bowed as he desperately searched for answers that didn't exist.
Following the restart, Messi tapped the ball to Busquets in the center circle, but the Argentine himself made no subsequent run.
He simply strolled listlessly across the front line.
The match had reached the 85th minute.
To be honest, Messi's stamina reserves were completely depleted.
He desperately needed a moment to breathe.
Seeing his captain static, Busquets had no option but to force the ball out wide to Ousmane Dembélé.
But the absolute second Dembélé received the ball, two Real Madrid players aggressively collapsed on him, executing a flawless double-team.
Casemiro and Ferland Mendy.
Lacking the confidence to take them both on, Dembélé panic-passed the ball back into the central channel toward Messi.
And at the exact moment Messi controlled it, his ultimate nightmare materialized beside him once again.
When Casemiro drifted wide to press Dembélé, Theodore had actively dropped back into the defensive pivot role specifically to shadow the Argentine.
Messi lifted his head and saw Theodore's towering frame blocking his path. In that instant, a visible wave of exhaustion seemed to wash over him. His legs felt like lead.
To be honest, Messi was a little afraid now.
Across this grueling match, Theodore had mercilessly stripped the ball from Messi's feet time and time again.
It was no exaggeration to say that whenever Messi came up against Theodore's defending, his dribbling success rate was an abysmal zero.
But wearing the captain's armband, Messi had no choice but to grit his teeth and try one last time.
Dropping his left shoulder, Messi summoned the last dregs of his explosive energy, attempting to force his way past Theodore on the right.
However, Theodore's acceleration was simply operating on a different plane.
Simultaneously, the teenager's mastery of his own physicality was absolute.
The instant Messi attempted to burst past him, Theodore took one explosive, diagonal step, engaging in a brutal shoulder-to-shoulder collision.
This time, the sheer force of the impact sent the exhausted Argentine flying.
Because it was a legal shoulder charge, referee José Sánchez rightly kept his whistle away from his mouth.
Hitting the turf hard, Messi spat out a mouthful of bitter fluid, completely shattered.
He lay collapsed on the grass, his chest heaving, gasping for air.
And at that exact moment, Theodore was already driving the ball into the Barcelona half like a runaway freight train.
With the match in its dying embers, every player on the pitch was running on empty.
Everyone, that is, except Theodore Bjorn.
Armed with a maxed-out stamina attribute of 100, he looked as fresh as he did in the first minute.
In the blink of an eye, Theodore carried the ball 50 yards, arriving at the top of Barcelona's penalty arc.
Whether it was Busquets, Frenkie de Jong, or the rest of the Barcelona midfield, none of them had the lactic acid capacity left in their legs to track his run.
Near the edge of the box, a terrified Piqué and Lenglet scrambled out to confront him.
But Theodore's momentum was too overwhelming.
With a blindingly quick shift of the ball from his left foot to his right, he sliced straight through the gap between the two center-backs.
The next second, Theodore had a pure one-on-one chance.
Before Ter Stegen could even set his feet to rush out, Theodore lashed a venomous, clean strike.
The ball nearly tore the net off its hinges!
7–2.
"GOAL! SEVEN HEAVEN FOR REAL MADRID!" Palmer bellowed, losing his voice entirely. "Theodore Bjorn scores his fourth of the night! A quadruple for him!"
"He has scored Real Madrid's seventh goal of the match!"
"He dispossesses Messi, runs the length of the attacking third at lightning speed, and finishes it himself! It is the ultimate solo goal!"
"The Barcelona backline is nothing but decoration in front of Theodore!"
The atmosphere inside the Santiago Bernabéu descended into complete, unadulterated madness.
Eighty-five thousand fans screamed Theodore's name in unison.
At that moment, his status in the hearts of Madridistas was elevated to that of a footballing deity.
There were, originally, several thousand Barcelona fans huddled in the away sector of the Bernabéu.
But after Theodore scored Madrid's seventh goal, those blue-and-red supporters had already begun leaving early.
This was definitively Barcelona's most humiliating defeat at the Bernabéu since the turn of the millennium.
On the global live comment feeds, the emotions of the international fans had reached their absolute peak.
Almost every single comment was overflowing with praise for Theodore.
"Theodore just defeated the entire Barcelona team by himself!"
"To be directly involved in seven goals in El Clásico—Theodore must be the first player in history to do that, right?!"
"In front of Theodore, Messi looks utterly helpless!"
"To be honest, as a Barcelona fan, I feel completely hopeless. No one stays young forever, but there will always be someone younger and stronger. I hope Barça rebuilds after this brutal lesson."