Barcelona vs. Real Madrid: Mou Tactics Spot-On, but Red Card Changed Everything

First of all, congratulations to Barcelona for making it to the Champions League Final. The purpose of this article is not to criticize Barcelona, but rather to examine Real Madrid's game plan and wonder what could have happened if Pepe had not been sent off.

This brings me to my second point. This article is not intended to dispute Pepe's red card. For the record, I believe that the referee was harsh but that discussion is not for today.

After the first leg of the Champions League semifinal, Real Madrid was criticized for playing too defensively despite the home advantage and the wealth of attacking players at Jose Mourinho's disposal. The record shows that Real Madrid possessed the ball for a meager 23 percent of the time and had only three shots on target. Many would agree that Madrid did not seem too intent on scoring, only on obtaining a 0-0 draw.

If a 0-0 was indeed what Madrid was playing for, then such a result must have been considered obtainable until the 60th minute, when Pepe was sent off. During the first two-and-a-half games of the Clásico series, Pepe was Real Madrid's best defensive player, intimidating (perhaps an understatement) Pep Guardiola's team and doing very well to contain the likes of Messi and Xavi (the only goal scored under Pepe's watch was Messi's penalty, courtesy of Raul Albiol).

When the Portuguese player was given his marching orders, not only were Madrid reduced to 10 men, but they also found themselves without the center back-turned-defensive midfielder who, in my opinion, was instrumental in keeping the scoreline down.

Pepe's absence opened the floodgates for the Barcelona attack. The once-impregnable Madrid defense crumbled, allowing five shots in the closing half-hour, two of which were converted from close range. Mourinho criticized the red card, stating that "it paved the way for Barcelona to finish the tie" and "killed a [game] that could end 0-0 after three hours".

The second leg was a different story. Despite warnings that playing an open, attacking game could result in last November's scoreline, the absent Mourinho fielded a noticeably more positive lineup, essentially taking out a defensive midfielder and putting Kaká in his place. 

The second leg was surprisingly more encouraging than the first. Although Madrid ended up with 31 percent possession, it signified an 8 percent increase over the first leg, despite the fact that they were playing at the Camp Nou and were faced with the daunting task of scoring at least two goals in regular time.

The game itself reflected the improved lineup. Madrid went forward as a team with much more attacking intent. Arbeloa and Marcelo pushed up as well, a stark contrast to the first leg where Cristiano Ronaldo was left wondering why he had absolutely no company up front. Barcelona dominated shots and possession, but Real Madrid's brave display, coupled with Higuain's contentious disallowed goal (feel free to comment on this one), suggests that a 1-1 draw was a fair result.

If you have not guessed where I am heading, I will now spell it out. I can almost guarantee that Mourinho's game plan was to play for a 0-0 draw at the Bernabeu, followed by a 1-1 tie in Barcelona. The aggregate score would have been enough to send Madrid through on away goals.

While such tactics may encourage damage limitation rather than attacking football, they are nonetheless effective. Based on the first hour of the first leg and the entirety of the second, Real Madrid had a reasonable chance to reach the final of the Champions League courtesy of one away goal.

The main criticism of this article will likely be that Barcelona would have played differently had the game at the Bernabeu ended 0-0. Although I cannot entirely dispel this claim, Barcelona's manager, Barcelona's players, Barcelona's president and Barcelona's supporters all insist that Barcelona only plays football one way: the attacking way.

If these assertions are indeed true, and a Pepe-led Madrid had been able to hold Barcelona at bay in the first leg, then we could very well have seen a different team progress to the Champions League Final.