Barcelona 2-2 Real Madrid | Clasico Review

By Mohammed Ifran.

Two Of The Best

El Clasico has never been short of mouth watering every time the giants of Spain clash between each other. This time this was no different. Both the teams have shared 175 victories among themselves with Real Madrid edging Barcelona by 1 match as the victories stand at 88-87 in the favour of Real Madrid. 

The match was held at Camp Nou. As always, the stadium was filled with supporters. 

Barcelona starting line-up consisted of no real ‘natural defender’ as the heart of the defense was empty with notable absentees. Barca’s skipper and long serving defender Carles Puyol was missing due to a nasty elbow injury which happened few days ago. Gerard Pique picked up a knee injury few matches ago to which he was recovering well but couldn’t make it to the playing squad. A couple of other La Masia graduates, Isaac Cuenca and Thiago Alcantara, were missing too. The former has been injured since the end of the last season and the latter has picked up knock which has ruled him out for well over a month. 

This was relatively a slow start for the Blancos. But they came with a lot of confidence brimming in them as they have already got the better of Barcelona on their last meeting in the league last season which ended 1-2. They had a healthy squad travelling to Barcelona with some players hoping to carry their scintillating forms along. Cristiano Ronaldo has scored half a dozen goals in his last 2 outings. And the 2007 Ballon D’Or winner Kaka, who is considered surplus to Jose Mourinho’s immensely squad, has shown that he was not finished just yet again with a hat-trick and a couple of assists in the Bernabeu Trophy. Angel Di Maria already has 4 assists in the league which makes him sit at the top of the assist charts.

Real Madrid were looking for an easy win to cut of the deficit of 8 points to 5 points and Barcelona wanting to keep their unbeaten run going. With the absence of Pique and Puyol, Tito Vilanova chose Adriano to partner Mascherano. Iniesta came back from an injury to his favoured position as Cesc was asked to start on the left of the final third. Despite Kaka’s and Higuain’s form, they were benched as Mesut and Karim filled in for them.

It was the typical Barca playing and moving around the in the whole field. But there was a gradual turn around as Mourinho’s men started pressing the already weakened Barca. Benzema was the guy who could have opened the deadlock within 13 minutes but shot the volley way wide after finding himself in the D-box unmarked. 

But it didn’t take them long to take the lead through Ronaldo. There was a lovely play among the few white shirts which left the Barca players clueless. Mesut Ozil started the play from the right wing and after a couple of passes before Angel found Benzema, who saw space for their talisman in the left flank as he shot the ball with his weaker foot in the bottom corner with such precision past the helpless Victor Valdes which made him the only player in the history of El Clasico to score 6 El Clasico goals consecutively. Sheer class.

'Calm down, I got this.'

After a couple of minutes, Khedira cut the ball in for Angel, who found an unmarked Benzema on the penalty spot and passed it to him. But the France international’s woeful form of the night continued as he missed a sitter - he couldn’t meet the ball properly and the ball hit the post only to be shot wide by Di Maria to whom the rebound fell. 

Tito’s men were playing in their own style; keeping possession for a very long time but couldn’t find the end product. They missed few chances too. For the first time, the Real Madrid defenders were put to test as Pedro was found by Xavi on the right flank as he went past one white shirt to pass it in the box just to be cleared off by Sami Khedira. Then came the equalizer, after a mistake from Real Madrid’s most trusted stopper, Pepe. It all started from the middle third. There was a neat pass past Marcelo by Iniesta to Pedro, who directed a low cross to which Ramos couldn’t clear off properly before it hit Alonso and rose up to which Pepe couldn’t head clear and Iker was completely beaten by Messi who shot home past the Real Madrid goalkeeper in the 6 yard box. 

Messi Equalising

Second half. Ronaldo once again was the predator. He angled himself to shoot a great overhead but completely missed the shot just to land on his arm and injure him. As the injury took toll on him, he couldn’t move his left arm throughout the match but his confidence and his threat was intact as ever. Ramos missed a pretty good opportunity as he got an accurate cross to which he headed just wide.
Just after an hour passed at the Camp Nou, the roar once again rose as the Nou Camp faithful were at the top of their voice when their #10 jersey clinch the 2nd goal. As Barcelona got a foul around 30 yards from goal, it reminded everybody of the goal Messi scored from a similar position in their previous meeting. The World Cup winning captain was once again in between the poles. As Leo shot the ball, the ball went in between the Real Madrid wall to end in the back of the net and Barcelona were leading for the first time in the match. Once again, Casillas was clueless and no one was to be blamed.

Messi Curling It In

However, it seemed like Messi took the ball 2 steps backwards, when the referee was busy checking Real Madrid's wall, which gave Messi the space to get the ball over the wall. A very immoral thing done by the Argentine captain. Nonetheless, it was a brilliant executed free-kick.

People might have thought that it was going to be win for Barca, but Real Madrid proved them wrong yet again as they clinched a superb goal within a few minutes. The previous goal could not be enjoyed for long enough as Ronaldo was the man again who broke the Catalans’ heart. 

There was a mistake from Andres Iniesta and they took the full advantage of it. Pedro Rodriguez chased for the ball to regain possession as Mesut Ozil was yet again the man to deliver a great pass between 2 Barca shirts to which Ronaldo cruised past Montoya to shot past Victor Valdes. This guy just can’t stop scoring, can he? 

CRISis-Averter Ronaldo

After a very good second half performance, Mesut was substituted for Kaka. Higuain came in for Benzema just after an hour as Michael Essien was exchanged for Angel Di Maria. Barcelona made a few subs too as Dani Alves was forced to be subbed because of a knock and Martin Montoya was incharge of the RB position - which turned out to be blessing in disguise a Barca's defense looked more organised since the young defender came on. Cesc was subbed for the Chilean Alexis Sanchez at 64 the minute.

Comparatively, this was a much neat match from both the sides as the referee didn't have to pick out the cards more than a few times. Pedro was penalized for a clash with Sergio Ramos as Pepe was shown a yellow - his 7th yellow in the last 7 Clasicos - for a foul on Messi. The other players to be shown yellow were Busquets, Xabi, Alvaro and Mesut. Gladly, there were no injuries which kept the players fit for their upcoming international matches. 

Barcelona had a sigh of relief as the referee, Carlos Delgado Ferreiro, called the match off. The match ended as there was no more goals conceded by any of the sides as this mouth-watering clash ended as a draw. The points were shared among them as the gap among the giants still remain the same; 8 points. This left the home side maintaining the top position with 19 points, the same as Athletico Madrid, the city rivals of Real Madrid. Real Madrid have now climbed to the 5th position after the point earned. After yet another marvelous performance from the goal scorers, Ronaldo and Messi sat on the top, along with Radamel Falcao, with 8 goals to their name each.

Barca Are Over-Reliant On Messi, Karim Benzema Is Mr. Champions League Junior - What We Learned From Match-Day 1 Of The Champions League…

By Umid Dey.

Malaga are doing just fine without Cazorla….

When Santi Cazorla joined Malaga from Villarreal last summer, the Yellow Submarines got hit hard. So hard that they failed to win a single game in the group stages of last season’s Champions League.

This summer, same was expected with Malaga when their talisman was sold to Arsenal. All of those expectations, however, don’t look like will get fulfilled as Malaga have made a terrific start – both in La Liga and the Champions League.

With the sale of Santi Cazorla, the task to perform well and fill in his boots fell on the young shoulders of Isco – and the 20 year-old has, so far, done an excellent job for his team.

Malaga's New Messiah

The youngster put in a stunning performance by scoring twice in Malaga’s 3-0 win over Zenit on Tuesday – a Zenit team which had the likes of Hulk, Bruno Alves, Shirokov, Lombaerts et al in it.

Albeit it’s too early in the season, if the way Malaga have played so far this season is anything to go by, then we might as well say that Malaga are doing just fine without Santi Cazorla.

Barca are over-reliant on Messi….

When Arsenal were being mocked as an one-man-team last season, there was this another team in Catalonia who could have been labeled the same: Barcelona.

The Catalan Club, at times last season, had to solely rely on Messi to win them games – and he indeed won them some games single-handedly, but that wasn’t enough to secure the Champions League or La Liga title.

The same happened last night as well – the Argentine talisman had to score twice in the last ten minutes to win Barca the game after them being 2-1 down at Camp Nou against Unai Emery’s Spartak Moscow.

Barca's One Man: Messi

Whether Messi can save Barca like this every time is yet to be seen, but the chances of that aren’t 100% as Messi is, after all, a Human and can have bad games – and Barca will need to find a solution when that happens, or else they might lose it again like last season.

Juventus are Italy’s only hope in the Champions League….

Ah, the Old Lady is back to where it belongs: the Champions League.

After 3 years of absence in Europe’s elite competition, Juve finally kicked off their Champions League campaign against defending champions, Chelsea. Things weren’t looking bright for Juve when Oscar scored twice to give Chelsea a 2-0 lead.

Then a saviour appeared in Arturo Vidal.

Juve's Saviour

The Chilean scored a brilliant goal just before half-time to give Juve a chance to get back into the game. Vidal looked like he was playing through an injury barrier – such dedicated players are needed in a team if they are to challenge for silverware.

And then Quagliarella scored in the 80^th minute to tie the scores at 2-2.

It was a great comeback from Juve, especially considering that they were up against a very strong Chelsea side and were playing in the Champions League after a long time. They also showcased their great mental strength – they went unbeaten last season and have not lost a game, so far, this season as well.

Things, however, don’t look bright for the other Italian Club in the Champions League, Milan. They drew against Anderlecht 0-0 at San Siro and it was uninspiring.

Frustrated Pazzini

Milanisti might argue that Juve also drew, so Milan drawing isn’t a big deal. However, Juve drew against a strong Chelsea team at Stamford Bridge and also put in a great performance. Milan, on the other hand, drew in their own backyard against Anderlecht and the manner in which they played wasn’t inspiring.

Milan lost 2 of their best players in Thiago Silva and Ibrahimovic to PSG – Juve, in contrast, have strengthened by signing great players like Asamoah and Isla. Showing no disrespect to Milan, Juve look like the only Italian team capable of going far in the Champions League.

Milan fans will be hoping that Milan pull off a miracle like Chelsea did last season …. but it looks unlikely.

Champions League is Karim Benzema’s competition….

Didn’t score for Club or Country since May 2012. Had a torrid Euro 2012 with France. Had a woeful start with Real Madrid this season.  Yes, that’s Karim Benzema.

Prior to the City game, Karim Benzema was going through a drought – he hadn’t scored a goal for more than 800+ minutes.

Real Madrid were trailing 2-1, with just 5 minutes to go, after Kolarov gave City the lead once again by scoring from a free-kick. Every City fan were convinced that their team would come out of the Bernabeu with all 3 points.

But it wasn’t to be because Benzema had something else in mind.

Benzema received the ball on the edge of the box, turned Nastasic – who was having a storming game – in the wrong direction with his first touch and shot the ball straight into the right bottom-corner. Hart couldn’t save this one and Benzema had finally broken his goal drought.

'I own the Champions League!'

And what better an occasion to end the drought?

Benzema has scored 26 goals in 43 Champions League appearances. It was his performances in the Champions League for Lyon that drew a lot of attention. When it comes to Champions League, it is almost guaranteed that Benzema will deliver an awe-inspiring performance.

Real Madrid lost Mr. Champions League, Raul, in 2010 – but they have found another one in Benzema; Mr. Champions League Junior.

How not to take penalties….

Bayern Munich, Schalke, Dortmund & Manchester United – what is common between these four teams? All of them were awarded with a penalty each and all of their takers failed to score from it.

There was once a time when penalties made heroes out of the takers – they would almost always score from them. Lately, it is the goalkeepers who are getting the better of the penalty-takers and making them look like fools instead of heroes.

This is how you take a penalty....not

If you ever want to learn on how to not take penalties, then you should watch the way Nani, Hummels, Mandzukic & Huntelaar took their spot-kicks this midweek.

Varane, Nastasic, Isco & Veratti are the stars of the future….

When City’s and Real’s starting XI came out, everyone was surprised – two talented 19 year-old center backs were in it; one for Real and the other for City.

Almost everyone expected Ramos to start for Real and Lescott for City. Instead, a 19 year old Varane filled in the boots of Ramos & another 19 year old Nastasic took Lescott’s place.

And both of them had a tremendous game.

You may ask how did Real concede 2 and City concede 3 if they both had great games. Here’s why: Kompany had a terrible game; arguably his worst game ever since becoming an undisputed starter at City (was heavily at fault for Cristiano’s winning goal) and all of Real Madrid’s goals were scored from outside the box – blatantly revealing the inability of City’s deep-midfielder to close down the space.

The Future Of City's Defense

Apart from Benzema’s goal, where the Frenchmen schooled Nastasic, the teenager had a brilliant game and showed the World why he is one of the most hyped defenders out there.

And Varane; none of the goals Real conceded were his fault – one came directly from a set-piece and the other from a counter-attack goal where he had to close down Yaya Toure (Pepe should have tracked Dzeko). He was astute with his defending and brilliantly organised the defense when City were building an attack. His composure is way beyond his years.

The Future Of Real Madrid's Defense

Now onto Veratti.

A lot is expected of him, a lot of Italians see him as the next Pirlo; but I can assure you that he won’t be the next Pirlo – he will be the new Veratti.

Against Kiev, he showed that his incredible performance against Toulouse was no one-match wonder. Against Toulouse, he did everything you could ask from a midfielder: defend, set the tempo by spraying passes & play some amazing long-balls.

The Marco Verratti

And he did the same against Kiev.

It is absolutely astonishing how a 20 year old has so many skills; he can read the game so well that he is always in the right defensive position at the right time, he can pass it, has good ball-control, has great vision and is really brave.

I have already written about Isco earlier in this article, so I will keep it till there for him. If these 4 keep progressing the way they are now, then that day isn’t far when these 4 would be in the list of Ballon d’Or candidates.

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