It was never going to be another 6-2, however much Barca wanted it to be, and so it proved. It was all about the three points, and it was Barcelona who made it three Clasico wins in a row thanks to a second-half bullet from Zlatan Ibrahimovic and a monumental performance from captain Carlos Puyol. Real Madrid can count themselves unlucky as they restricted Barca to a handful of chances and flooded a midfield that Iniesta and Xavi could never quite take control of, but it was their failure to take advantage of their chances and a ludicrous second half decision from their manager which cost them dearly.Ronaldo early miss
Cristiano Ronaldo had a fantastic opportunity to open the scoring early in the first half, but with the whole goal to aim for, he found Victor Valdes' right boot and the chance was gone. A fit Ronaldo would surely have stuck it away. Kaká created that chance with a devastating diagonal run, and there were other moments of class from the Brazilian, but he really needs to offer more if he is ever going to justify his pricetag, especially in games of this magnitude. Personal highlights of a tense first half were Thierry Henry being caught offside literally a thousand times, the ongoing verbals between Dani Alves and that hilarious ginger linesman who never fails to entertain, Iniesta getting angry (I'd never seen it before) and a green laser being pointed in the face of Cristiano; what's that all aboot? Real Madrid had strangled the life out of Barca and looked dangerous on the break. It was looking rosy for Pelligrinis white army.
Zlatan to the rescue
But on came Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the second half, and six minutes into his Clasico debut he had put his team infront. And what a goal it was. Pique robbed Ronaldo in the Barca box and the ball was quickly moved forward. It was eventually laid out wide for Alves and he floated a trademark pinpoint cross in from the right which Ibrahimovic (56') met first time with a volley which shot past Casillas. Sheer quality. But moments later Sergio Busquets made the game unnecessarily difficult when he was sent off for a silly second yellow, which infuriated Guardiola, and suddenly it looked like Real might get something from the game.
Pelligrini lost his marbles?
Luckily for Barca, Pelligrini was having none of it. Ronaldo was looking dangerous everytime he got the ball. They were a man up, 1-0 down with twenty minutes left and beginning to turn the screw. What do you do? Take Ronaldo off of course. The man from Maderia didnt looked tired or injured, so I don't buy any of this prior warning from Dr Van Dijk that he could only play 60 mins. He could rest him next week against Almería at home, tonight he was vital. The manager will be lynched by the press and I dare say he deserves it. On the pitch Puyol was a rock with three match saving blocks from Higuain twice and Marcelo. Benzema came on and had a chance from a corner but he skied it. Messi and Pique could have put Barca out of sight but missed sitters. Five minutes from time Alonso hit a corner stright out of play. Unforgivable and Florentino looked to the heavens, so he might. 280 million euros and his team still can't beat Barca. Lass was then sent off for his second yellow and all Madrids hopes trudged down the tunnel with him.
So Barca take the first Clasico of the season and with it top spot in La Liga. It was by no means a vintage Barca performance, but it was a game full of technical excellence on behalf of both sides and Madrid can take heart from a solid showing. Ibrahimovic won the battle of the summer signings, and we will now have to wait until April 2010 for round two. It can't come soon enough for Real Madrid.
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