El Clasico As Vintage As They Come: CDR Barcelona 2 – 2 Real Madrid Match Review

What a night

El Clasico at its best, entertaining from start to finish! Real Madrid entered the game knowing they needed a 2 goal clean sheet win or by winning the game with a score line greater than 3 goals to go through to the CDR semis. All that against Barca, at the Camp Nou, and they nearly did it!

From the off, RM intentions were clear for all to see. Mourinho decided to field an attacking 4-2-3-1 with Iker – Arbeloa – Ramos – Pepe – Coentrao – Diarra – Xabi Alonso – Ozil – Kaka – Ronaldo – Higuain. His opposite, Pep, decided to stick to the same formation that won the first leg at the Bernabeu Pinto – Alves – Pique – Puyol – Abidal – Xavi – Busquets – Iniesta – Messi – Cesc – Alexis.

The game kicked off with the ball reaching Alves in his right wing position. He passed the ball back to Pique with Higuain lurking behind him only for Pique to inexplicably leave it for Pinto. Higuain quickly jumped onto the ball but thankfully Pinto sensed the danger and immediately went off his line to close down Higuain whose first time shot went agonizingly wide. Still barely comfortable in my seat, RM could have scored from the kick-off! And Pique was looking at Alves as if what’s up with that?!

Still not yet finished, and from a free-kick on the right hand side, Xabi sent a beautiful cross towards goal. The unmarked Ramos missed the inviting header only for the ball to find its way to the unmarked Higuain at the far post. Higuain took a first time shot again but again found Pinto throwing himself at his legs. The ball ricocheted off Pinto, then off Higuain, to go out for a goal kick. Again, what’s up with that?!

To their credit RM never stopped threatening Barca’s goal. Ronaldo sent a fierce shot wide after running across the penalty area through a beautiful pass from Ozil. Kaka burst through the middle, and all of a sudden it was 4 Madrid players against 3 of Barca’s. Kaka waited for Ronaldo’s overlap on his left before feeding him the ball. And in a manner very similar to the first leg, Ronaldo’s left boot shot almost resulted in a goal after getting a slight deflection off a sliding Alves, nearly sending the ball in had it not been for Pinto’s somehow lucky stop. Again, what’s up with that?!

Barca were quite simply overrun by RM from the whistle. A quick break from Barca by Cesc could have resulted in a goal. But Cesc’s poor pass to Messi was asking too much of him. Bless him, Messi tried to curl it in the bottom left corner, but after readjusting his feet, his angles were never right, and he sent his shot wide. RM attacked again, this time with Ozil sending a diagonal ball behind the defense to Ronaldo, who managed to beat Alves and Pique and send a low cross towards goal only for Caveman Puyol to send it out. From the resulting corner, RM had a penalty claim. Pepe got ahead of Busquets to head the ball towards goal. Busquets, who had already jumped to block the ball with his hands by his side, appeared to have had handled the ball in the penalty area. Replays clearly showed the ball actually hitting his stomach, and even if he had made contact with the ball, it was a case of ball to hand.

Sergio's block

RM were relentless in attack. First, after losing Busquets with a beautiful feint, Ozil took aim for goal. His shot caught everyone by surprise. The shot hit the woodwork and the post before bouncing off the ground just a couple of centimeters away from the goal line and staying out. A couple of minutes later, Pique passed the ball back to Pinto under pressure from Ozil. Ozil continued his pressing and Pinto panicked and passed the ball to Higuain inside the box. Higuain tried to squeeze a shot but Pinto blocked superbly to deny what would have been a very embarrassing goal. Yep you guessed it, what’s up with that?

Barca were simply not functioning. The only players who seemed awake were Iniesta, Abidal, and Messi. Xavi desperately trying to dictate play, but everyone around him seemed caught by surprise by the high pressing and tight defending of RM. Things got even worse for Barca around the 30^th min. After a small tangle with Arbeloa, Iniesta appeared to fall down with some pain. Subsequently, Pedro was introduced in his place after it appeared Iniesta had injured his hamstring, again! It was later confirmed that Iniesta suffered a small tear to his hamstring and will be out for 3 weeks.

Get well soon Don.

Soon after Pedro’s introduction, Barca looked more threatening and cohesive. I think it’s down to RM getting their foot off the pedal after such a tireless attacking approach. Barca started dominating possession like they always do and had a couple of breathless moments of tiki-taka, but still were not threatening RM’s goal enough (at all even). RM lost possession to Barca right about the 42^nd min. Out of nowhere, Messi charged down the middle, leaving Lass, Xabi, and Coentrao in his wake, while Pepe, Ramos, and Arbeloa where all concentrating on him (yes six players). As he reached the edge of the penalty area, Messi chipped in a low through pass begging Pedro to score, and boy did he made no mistake.

A typical Pedro goal

To be very frank, this came absolutely opposite the run of play. RM could have been easily 2 or 3 nil up, and now they’re a goal down and need 3 goals to progress. They SHOULD have been reduced to 10 men just before the half time whistle as Lass; who was on a yellow card shortly before this, charged Messi down just to the left of RM penalty area. It was a blatant yellow card, and Lass deserved red. The referee gave the free kick to Barca, and after yet another scuffle between the players, Xavi stepped up to take the free kick. Xavi’s shot/cross got deflected off the 2 man wall but fell gently towards the onrushing Alves just at the edge of the penalty area. Alves smashed it first touch into the top left corner to send the Camp Nou wild. Barca were 4-1 on aggregate, surely game over, and yet another brilliant goal celebration from Abidal and Alves.

The second half started with no changes from each side. Barca continued where they left from in the first half, with neat passes and magnificent movement. Mourinho, sensing that Lass might get himself sent off, decided to take him off and place Granero in his position just around the 52^nd min. RM got a free kick from a similar position which resulted in Barca’s second goal. Xabi sent a great ball towards the penalty box and Ramos headed home. However, the goal was chalked off for an alleged Ramos pull of Alves. From what I was seeing, this was a legitimate goal for RM and a very, very poor showing from our defense (Pique) yet again.

With nothing to lose, Mourinho played his final 2 substitute cards by introducing Benzema and Callejon for Higuain and Kaka.  Soon after the duo introduction, RM scored. With no one closing  Ozil soon enough (for some reason), he managed to send a beautiful through pass to Ronaldo who had ghosted behind Abidal on the left. Puyol probably should have played him offside but was caught napping with Ozil’s brilliance. Ronaldo charged forward, fooled Pinto to commit himself and fall to the ground to round him and stuck the ball in the back of the empty net. Puyol was inches away from saving it off the line, but it was a goal well-deserved for RM.

Cristiano Ronaldo scores Madrid's first goal

Sensing that Barca were losing the battle in midfield after RM’s changes, Pep decided to bring on Thiago for the ineffective Fabregas. Shortly after however, disaster struck and RM drew level. Pique (yes him again) tried to clear the ball from the back but it found Granero’s head instead. The deflected ball fell very kindly in the huge gap between Pique and Puyol. Benzema was the first to react and found himself through on goal. With the ball bouncing in front of him and Puyol closing in, Benz lifted the ball over Puyol and into the other direction, took another touch with his knee to open up the space, and then fire RM level with 18 minutes until the end of the match. It was a lovely combination of skill and determination from Benz, and the way Barca were defending; they deserved to lose their lead.

Soon afterwards, Alexis was sent through in the penalty area but was brought down by another cynical Pepe challenge. Sanchez was holding his left shoulder after landing awkwardly from the challenge. In my opinion this should have been a penalty for Barca. Pep sent on Masch for Alexis, who will be out for a week or 10 days with strained shoulder muscle.

Very unlucky. Get well soon Alexis.

Messi had two chances to settle our nerves in the final 10 minutes. He blasted a free kick agonizingly high. Shortly after, with yet another trademark run at RM’s defense, and with the ball on his favored left and a gap nicely opening up towards goal, Messi fired a fierce low shot towards the bottom right corner but the ball went wide. 2 minutes later, Alves found Pedro all alone inside the box with a magnificent cross. But, 18 yards from goal, Pedro went for a diving header straight at Casillas.

Pepe, who incredibly went as close as 90 minutes without getting a yellow card in a Clasico received a yellow card for a blatant foul on Alves. In my opinion it should have been a straight red because he was the last man and Alves already lost him and was heading towards Casillas. Inexplicably however, the ref decided to send Ramos off for a second bookable offense for an elbow to Busquets face. In all honesty, jumping for a high ball is always a 50-50 challenge and there wasn’t much to it.

The ref soon ended the match, and Barca booked a place in the semi-finals with either Valencia or Levante.

PERSONAL THOUGHTS

• Pique was disastrous today. He was by far our weakest link on the night. Challenging him very closely was Cesc. I think in Cesc’s case, it’s more down to fatigue. I don’t remember Cesc playing as many games for Arsenal in one season like he’s doing for Barca. He’s just not used to it. I think Thiago’s introduction came about a little too late.
• Yes we kicked RM out of the competition. But I’m afraid we’ve also changed the tide in their favor. This was by far the best display of a RM team against Barca in a very long time, especially under Mourinho leadership. What’s alarming for me personally was that we were shocked by RM attacking approach. I think the players, and us fans as well, have forgotten just how good RM COULD be and probably SHOULD be.
• The squad is diminishing each week. With Alexis and Iniesta now both out, the alarm bells should be ringing in the Camp Nou. Pedro’s return to fitness, and yet another Clasico goal should ease the burden. But how long can we survive and ride our luck in terms of injuries is anyone’s guess.

PLAYER RATINGS:

Pinto – 7: Had his nervy moments, especially with the idiotic pass to Higuain in the first half. However had it not been for him, Barca could have found themselves 2 goals down by half time. Can’t be really faulted for any of the goals RM scored as well.

Alves – 7.5: Yes he scored a brilliant goal, matched with even a better celebration, but he was very erratic on the night. Kept Ronaldo and Coentrao fairly quiet, but his final delivery was a bit inconsistent and disappointing.

Pique – 4 (FLOP OF THE MATCH): A very very very bad match by Pique. Almost every threat caused by RM came from his position. He was very sloppy in possession and his positioning. His worst performance of the season so far, and let’s pray to God it’s his last.

Puyol – 7: Could be slightly questioned for playing Ronaldo onside for his goal. Tried his best to get the ball off Benz for the second, nearly chopping his leg off, but it was just too much for him. Other than that, business as usual from Mr. Capita.

Abidal – 6.5: Faced a lot of problems with Ozil in such an inspired form. Probably wasn’t helped a lot by Cesc in that department. Not his worst performance, but definitely not his best either.

Busquets – 7: A good game from Sergio. He shielded the backline fairly well, not great but well. Distributed the ball very well, might feel undone by Cesc as well.

Xavi – 7: Not the best way to celebrate your 32^nd birthday, but Xavi oozed class every time he touched the ball. Received a huge roar from the fans for his second half roulette. Kept possession fairly well, but not his usual big game performance.

Iniesta – 7: Was one of the most dangerous players for Barca before his forced substitution. Wishing him all the best in his (hopefully) speedy recovery. His 4^th injury this season, Don Iniesta really needs a break, injury gods.

Cesc – 4.5: His worst performance in a Barca shirt. A very subdued and ineffective performance as he seemed unaware of his position on the pitch. He struggled to help up front or to help out his defensive colleagues, especially in trying to contain Ozil’s threat.

Alexis – 7: Worked very hard for the team in creating spaces and drawing tackles. Unfortunately was slightly deprived of service. Unlucky to get injured as the game wore on.

Messi – 8: He wasn’t his brilliant best, but was still able to draw the attention of RM’s defense towards him. Had two great chances to score; a free kick and shot after a brilliant run.

SUBS:

Pedro : 7.5: Scored a typical Pedro goal after coming on for the injured Iniesta and always a threat throughout the match. The only negative part was his sloppy possession at times and heading straight at Casillas from Alves’s cross.

Thiago – 7.5: Showed us how ineffective Cesc was after his introduction. He immediately brought life to our midfield.

Mascherano – 6.5: Replaced the injured Alexis and had no time to really impress. To his credit made sure Barca were solid at the back to secure the qualification.

What do you think? Did the tide change in RM’s favor, or is it just a small hiccup? Share with us your thoughts.

Visca Barca!

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Category: Barcelona, Copa del Rey, El Clasico, Injuries, Review, Team News