Barcelona are back at it again with another win and this time against their most fierce rivals, Real Madrid. Going into Christmas, they sit comfortably on the top of the league table with a 9 points gap between them and second placed Atletico Madrid and a 14 points gap against fourth placed Real Madrid.
Ofcourse, this wasnt what we all expected when the season kicked off. After Real Madrid demolished Barcelona in 5-1 win in the Supercopa in the pre-season, a game which Gerard Pique said was the only time when he felt inferior to his rivals, hopes were high for Real Madrid. They were already the favorites to win the La Liga even before the season kicked off and why wouldnt they be? They had won back to back Champions League trophies and La Liga in the previous season and having one of the best squad in the world (even the players on the bench for Real Madrid alone could compete for the title) sure helped things work their way.
The exact opposite was the case for FC Barcelona. After a summer of unexpected twists and turns, it looked as though it was gonna be long and hard ride for the club. The summer transfer window began with Barcelona chasing the signature of Marco Verratti and Coutinho. As the club was looking to get these two, they forgot to keep their own man and Neymar departed the club to join the French side PSG. This was what hit the club the most and the signing of Paulinho for 40 million euros didnt help calm down the fans. Lot of doubts were also placed on the new man at the helm, Ernesto Valverde who didnt win the hearts of the fans with the pre season games.
But now, five months and twenty five games later, Barcelona remains unbeaten across Europe and the same couldnt be said about Real Madrid. Now enter the El Clasico, one of the biggest, most-watched matches in World Football with two teams whose rivalry goes back by decades that it can have it’s on personal space in the book of the history of Spain.
Drama, goals, red-cards, hypes…these are all the characteristics of an El Clasico and tonight’s game was no different. As, the game kicked off, it looked like Real Madrid was off to a fantastic start when Cristiano Ronaldo headed the ball into the net in just three minutes only for the linesmans flag to be raised for offside. Real Madrid had a pretty good first half and with the inclusion of Kovacic to hold off Busquets and Messi did work to a good extent in the first 45 minutes… although in the end its the goal that matters and Madrid didnt have it. Both teams did have a few shots on target which was prevented from being goals due to the brilliance of the two keepers Ter Stegan and Keylor Navas.
Barca started to work their magic in the second half after a pretty much hold-up play in the first half. And the first goal came in the 54th minute after Busquets turned away from Toni Kross to find Rakitic who runs a long way into Madrids half without any challenge from Kovacic who kept marking Messi. Rakitic finds Roberto who lays a perfect pass into the path of Luis Suarez who didnt think twice to score with a one touch finish.
It all went down for Real Madrid at the 64th minute when Dani Carvajal was sent off the pitch for handling the ball inside the penalty area. And Messi made no mistake to score from the resulting penalty to make it 0-2 for the visitors. Real Madrid pushed on to give a response with the bringing on of Gareth Bale and Asensio but it was too late. Ter Stegan remained solid at the back to not give the rivals any hope of a comeback. And even with all the goals that Barca scored, you could say Madrids best player so far was the man in goal Keylor Navas. He made a couple more saves after the second goal to not give Madrid a humiliating defeat. But even he wasnt able to save a shot from Alexis Vidal who had been on the field for less than one minute.
And thats how the game ended. With the ball inside Real Madrids net.
It was over. The match and probably, even the league. With Christmas coming up, Messi and Co. have given their fans the best present they can ask for.
The Futbol Sage
The Futbol Sage 