Barcelona 5 Real Madrid 0
A night of misguided machismo by the Special One.
He admitted that Barcelona have years of playing together, and we don’t. But his bold selection said : My team can beat your team
He won’t do that again. His new Madrid outfit could not even give the champions a game.They got their arses kicked
His blunder : going into the Nou Camp with four clasico virgins and playing Di Maria, Cristiano and Benzema up, supported by Ozil.
That meant that Real Madrid could not get the ball, let alone hold onto the ball.
As early as 6 minutes, Messi chipped Casillas but his curling left foot shot hit the inside of the far post.The first goal was a fiercely hit crossfield pass by Iniesta which Xavi could not control properly as he raced into the box. But when the ball popped up, Xavi knocked it in for 1-0. Then Xavi’s crossfield found David Villa on the left and when Casillas spilled his shot, Pedro had a tap in.
2-0 after 18 minutes.
After that a crowd of 97,000 saw Madrid ripped to shreds, smashed, pulversised, spanked, humiliated. Centreback Pepe started well, reading the game, making tremendous challenges. It was as if he was thinking : If I don’t raise my game tonight, we could get hammered here. So Pepe raised his game…. but they still got walloped.
Cristiano’s facial expressions were pain, more pain and extreme pain. It was : watch my suffering ! Look at my agony, folks. My pride is so hurt !
In 36, Messi took off on one of his centrefield dribbles, somehow maintaining his balance. Pepe clipped his leg and half-held him as Messi flew through the middle in that inimitable scooting style. The ref allowed advantage then came back and booked the big defender.
Half-time was only 2-0 and Mourinho brought on Lassana Diarra for Ozil to chase and force errors. He managed to do a bit of that but this was Barcelona in top gear. Messi’s foraging and chasing were amazing, considering he is their main scorer with goals in 9 concutiuve games.
Released by Messi in 55, David Villa fired across Casillas for 3-0. Two minutes later Messi produced a killer crossfield pass inside the full back and Villa hit a right foot shot past Casillas for 4-0.
That goal can never be scored by a national team, even Brazil or Argentina. It can only be scored by a great club team with world class forwards. The way Messi checked inside Khedira’s challenge, ignoring a kick on the shinpad, and sent that laser-guided pass forward, wasn’t pretty football. It was fast and forceful and direct. It was stylish power football. It was stylish power football played by small men. Messi was just inside the Real half, inches beyond the centre circle, when he made a very penetrating pass that slowed down beautifully as it rolled into the box and into David Villa’s run.
The striker was 16 yards from goal and two yards from the advancing Casillas and super-composed as he jabbed the ball past the keeper. He’s the king of the just-onside goal and Messi is the pass-master whose genius keeps David Villa just onside. Those two beat the flag almost every time they combine.
Leo Messi is a humble lad with no pretensions. He does his job and goes home. He rarely watches football. Being the main man in the world’s best team is enough.
Subs Bojan and Jeffren combined in 91 to make it 5-0.
As a game of football it was too one-sided. As a massacre, it was as good as you’ll ever see.
What a team ! Talent, desire, passionate teamwork, a fantastic pattern of play but always with variations, with surprises. Barca certainly didn’t show any sign of burn-out last night. I thought it might be close but it was was men and boys.
Things got a bit ugly in injury time and Ramos, a notorious hothead, was sent off.
Pep Guardiola now has five Clasico victories in five games and he’ll remember this one.
Guardiola 5 Mourinho 0.
Mr Oligarch, you can’t buy that. You can’t collage that in six months. It takes at least 20 years to produce a team like this. And Chelsea can never have such a strong and meaningful regional identity. Catalonia thinks it’s a country, London doesn’t. No comparison.
The way foward for Barcelona is to keep doing what they are doing : produce your own but buy wisely as well. Buy top talents, not potential. Sign potential for your academy but buy proven quality for your team. And don’t be scared to pay top dollar. That’s the best way to be winners.
When Pep won six trophies in a year he forced Real Madrid to spend big. To improve his team Pep needed to improve his attack by signing a new partner for Messi when Ibra left. David Villa was proven in La Liga over five seasons. He averaged 27 goals a season at Valencia and they sold him for 40m euros. So while Valencia did a lot for David Villa, he did a lot for Valencia. And, ultimately, Pep bought him to replace Samuel Eto’o, not to replace Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Jose Mourino claimed that Madrid were not humiliated. But this was his biggest defeat as a manager.
The Herald-Trib’s headline on Rob Hughes’s piece is Using World Cup veterans, Barcelona routs its rival .
BARCELONA (4-3-3): Valdes; Alves, Pique, Puyol, Abidal; Xavi (Keita, 87), Busquets, Iniesta; Pedro (Jeffren, 87), Messi, Villa (Bojan, 76). Subs not used: Colorado, Maxwell, Adriano, Mascherano, Thiago.
REAL MADRID (4-2-3-1): Casillas; Ramos, Pepe, Carvalho, Marcelo (Arbeloa, 60); Khedira, Xabi Alonso; Di Maria, Ozil (Diarra, h-t), Ronaldo; Benzema. Subs not used: Dudek, Tortajada, Leon, Molina, Higuain