Barcelona recovered from
conceding the quickest
Nearly, but still not quite —
Jose Mourinho’s Madrid fell short of Barcelona’s benchmark again as
the seventh clasico of the year ended with a victory for the
Spanish champions.
Madrid had the perfect start
with Karim Benzema scoring inside 23 seconds but Cristiano Ronaldo
missed the chance to double the lead and Alexis Sanchez
equalised.
Xavi scored with a deflected
shot soon after the break and after another Ronaldo miss, Cesc
Fabregas put the result beyond doubt.
Mourinho had shown his hand
with a bold team selection starting with Mesut Ozil behind Ronaldo,
Angel Di Maria and Benzema. It was not the choice of a man still in
fear of the Barca side that put five past his team one year and 11
days earlier.
Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola
surprisingly picked Carles Puyol ahead of Javier
Mascherano.
The Argentine has been Barcelona’s most consistent defender but
Puyol’s incredible record of not being on the losing side for
Barcelona in 19 months had persuaded his manager that he was the
man for the big occasion and his Ronaldo-shackling performance
completely justified the decision.
Right on cue, the rain began to come down on an already wet
pitch five minutes before kick-off and with conditions not
favourable towards goalkeepers looking to play the ball out from
the back, Madrid went 1-0 up with the quickest goal in El Clasico
history.
Victor Valdes kicked straight out to Di Maria who tried to find
Benzema.
His pass was blocked by Sergio Busquets but ran to Ozil, whose
shot was blocked by Busquets again but the rebound fell perfectly
for Benzema to smash into the roof of Valdes’ net.
Real Madrid were on a 15-match winning run and looking to strike
a potentially decisive blow in the race for the Primera Division
trophy, which rivals Barca had lifted for three years in a row.
The capital club kicked off with a lead of three points with a
game in hand. But the tricky surface was also a problem for their
defenders and when Sergio Ramos slipped, Messi robbed him and homed
in on Iker Casillas.
The Madrid captain got down to his right to turn the Argentine’s
shot round his post.
Benzema tested Valdes again on 10 minutes with a header from a
Di Maria cross. The keeper saved comfortably but then sent his kick
straight down the pitch to Casillas. It was a nervous start from
the visiting goalkeeper.
Yet another poor kick from Valdes went straight to Xabi Alonso
but his attempt at sending it over the goalkeeper’s head
failed.
Valdes was urging his players not to give the ball back to him
on the greasy surface.
Di Maria was the next victim of the conditions, slipping inside
the penalty box and needing lengthy treatment off the pitch.
On 25 minutes it should have been 2-0 to Madrid. Benzema played
in Ronaldo but from the edge of the area he blasted wide.
Real’s leading scorer was losing his personal duel with Puyol
while at the other end Messi was getting the better of every Madrid
defender who came near him.
When he was brought down by Alonso with 25 minutes on the clock,
referee David Fernandez showed his first card.
Sanchez followed him into the book moments later with a crude
challenge on Di Maria.
Sanchez combined with Messi as Barca levelled on the half hour.
Messi slalomed past two lunges and slipped a pass through for the
Chilean to find Casillas’ bottom right-hand corner.
Messi then won the ball back in his own half, robbing Di Maria
with a sliding challenge. His industry was almost punished though.
He had been booked for protesting a late challenge from Pepe on
Sanchez and when he brought down Alonso two minutes before the
break, the referee considered a second yellow.
From an Alonso cross, Ronaldo headed wide with only the keeper
to beat and with almost their next attack, Dani Alves crossed to
the back post where Fabregas sent a diving header past
Casillas.
The introduction of Seydou Keita was the trigger for some racist
chanting from a small section of the Bernabeu.
That aside, Spanish football served up a fine spectacle in
difficult conditions but that will be of little consolation to
Mourinho, who this morning is again looking up at Barcelona in the
title race.
