Barcelona 1-1 Real Madrid: It's Finally Over!
Adopting Vicente del Bosque’s FIFA World Cup winning manual, Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona stifled any chance for Real Madrid to mount an improbable comeback.
In doing so, Barcelona brought down the curtain on five acts of El Clásicos, which disappointed and embarrassed instead of entertained football fans around the world.
This slideshow will analyse the final act of El Clásico.
Pep Guardiola’s Pragmatism
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Spain’s most entertaining game during the 2010 FIFA World Cup, was their 1-0 loss to Ottmar Hitzfeld’s José Mourinhoesq Switzerland. The match represented everything fans wanted to see in Spain: gung-ho cavalier like football.
What followed in later games was what football fans feared, Spain scoring, and then using their superior passing ability to contain as opposed to attack.
Rather than being the most aesthetically pleasing footballing side, del Bosque tactically ensured Spain won their first ever World Cup.
Tonight, Guardiola tactically ensured Barcelona’s passing game suffocated any chance for Real Madrid to score three goals.
Was it pleasing on the eye? No. Does it fully represent what Barcelona’s playing philosophy? Of course not.
If anything, it’s as cynical as Mourinho’s defensive tactics or be it with less physicality.
Yes, Real Madrid looked better with the ball than in the past El Clásicos, because Barcelona allowed them to.
The whole point of Barcelona being conservative with possession was to stop themselves from being hit on the counter and to counter attack Real Madrid when they went forward.
This is how they scored tonight, with Víctor Valdés playing a beautiful ball to Dani Alves, who passed it to Andrés Iniesta, and he provided a highlight reel assist to Pedro. Game over.
Barcelona’s goal epitomised how their players are brought up under La Masia. Pass your way out of trouble and pass your way into scoring.
Tuesday, Barcelona passed Real Madrid out of the Champions League.
José Mourinho’s Future
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When Pedro scored, the cameras focused on the two Presidents, Florentino Pérez and Sandro Rosell. Pérez sighed, perhaps coming to the sinking realisation of another season without Champions League glory. Meanwhile Rosell’s muted expressions lived up to his politician like status.
Having spent €46.6 million on Mancini, Ricardo Quaresma and Sulley Muntari, Inter Milan owner Massimo Moratti would have expected a better result, than being knocked out of the UEFA Champions League Round of 16.
So what did José Mourinho request in the summer?
Samuel Eto'o – Part of Zlatan Ibrahimović's €46 million transfer to Barcelona
Wesley Sneijder – €15 million
Diego Milito – €11 million plus Robert Acquafresca
Thiago Motta – €7.5 million plus Francesco Bolzoni, Leonardo Bonucci and Riccardo Meggiorini
Lucio – €5 million
TOTAL: €38.5 million plus selling Ibrahimović.
RESULT: Inter Milan became the first Italian club to complete a treble including the Champions League.
Keep in mind, Mancini and Quaresma were costly fails, and Moratti would have been hesitant when Mourinho requested a transfer fund for summer reinforcements.
This will be the situation facing Pérez, as Mourinho copiously plans for next season.
Will Pérez fire Mourinho? No, as who will replace him? Winning the Copa del Rey indicated Real Madrid could beat Barcelona. Aside from El Clásico I, El Clásico II, III, IV and V showed Mourinho had implemented a plan to stop Barcelona.
Like Moratti, Pérez will have to give in to Mourinho’s demands in the summer and hope the special one works his magic.
If Pérez does not give Mourinho freedom to operate, just like he did at Chelsea, he’ll controversially walk away.
Referee Frank De Bleeckere’s Performance
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As reported by Sky Sports, Real Madrid assistant manager Aitor Karanka blamed Real Madrid’s Champions League exit on referee Frank De Bleeckere.
Karanka’s rationale was referee De Bleeckere disallowing Gonzalo Higuaín’s goal in the 48th minute. The problem was Cristiano Ronaldo, who should have taken contact against Gerard Piqué, as opposed to diving.
As a result of Ronaldo’s dive, he marginally made contact with Javier Mascherano who went to floor as if he’d been hacked, which allowed an unmarked Higuaín to brilliantly finish.
Referee De Bleeckere perhaps thought Ronaldo brought Mascherano down, hence awarding the free kick against Real Madrid, or maybe he penalised Ronaldo for diving, but what about Mascherano’s dive?
It’s a catch 22, and it’s easy for Real Madrid to hide behind the decision, as opposed to accepting Barcelona tactically outmanoeuvred them tonight.
If we’re to believe José Mourinho stayed in the hotel and made no contact with Real Madrid at all, then Karanka is following in Mourinhoesq fashion, by making an outlandish remark to shield the team’s abject performance.
The other scenario is Mourinho told Karanka what to say, and if so, Mourinho needs to abandon this type of negative rhetoric against referees. The case of Anders Frisk shows this type of language has no place in football.
Yes, referee De Bleeckere called more fouls against Real Madrid; because they committed more fouls—21 more to be precise.
When Mourinho recounted the amount of matches his team finished with 10 men or less against Barcelona, it had an effect on referee De Bleeckere, as he kept his red card in his pocket.
Tell me how Emmanuel Adebayor escaped a yellow card, let alone a red card, for kicking Sergio Busquets? It’s kinda ironic how when Busquets is flagrantly fouled, he doesn’t playact and the decision goes against him.
Tell me how Marcelo escaped a red card for cleaning up Lionel Messi from behind?
Tell me how Ricardo Carvalho, Lassana Diarra and Xabi Alonso escaped a second yellow card, for persistently fouling Messi?
Referee De Bleeckere had a good match, and Karanka is being disingenuous for suggesting otherwise.
El Clásico Behaviour
4 of 5The diving, the playacting, the lack of respect shown to the referee were all highlighted in the last four acts of El Clásicos.
Specifically the last two El Clásicos under the governing body of UEFA, brought the game of football into disrepute and why UEFA have not stood up against these acts against football confuses me to no end.
With Liverpool, Javier Mascherano’s hard hitting tackling fitted perfectly with the rough and tough environment of the English Premier League. With Barcelona, Mascherano is the square peg in a round hole, and his theatrics to compensate for his inability to technically affect the match are an embarrassment to watch.
It was good to see Referee Frank De Bleeckere wave play on, as Ángel di María threw himself to the floor, everytime he felt any form of contact. Also, di Maria is 1.80m tall and weighs 75kgs, so he’s no lightweight by any stretch. For such a technically gifted player, why does he constantly dive?
Sergio Busquets finally had a match where you could talk about his game, as opposed to his behaviour. His passing was immaculate, he tackling was surprisingly good, and finally he used his height to his advantage where he almost scored (probably should of) from a corner.
Unfortunatelym we still have to delve into his behaviour as earlier in the week, ESPN Soccernet reported that Real Madrid released video evidence of Busquets allegedly racially abusing Marcelo.
What happened to UEFA’s stand against racism? Why have UEFA chosen to sweep this matter under the rug?
Final Comments
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Taking the shirt off in celebration has been largely eradicated, because players are automatically booked for doing so.
Even in cases where it seems extremely inappropriate, such was the case of Tamir Cohen, who broke down whilst giving tribute to his deceased father.
Diving should be met with a one-match suspension, a simple and effective method to eliminate diving from this beautiful game.
Next season, can José Mourinho convince Cristiano Ronaldo to just sacrifice his statistics for once, against Barcelona?
Ronaldo doesn’t need to imitate Samuel Eto’o by playing predominately as an auxiliary defender throughout the entire season (he still scored 16 goals and provided seven assists).
All Ronaldo needs to do is track back as opposed to pouting his pretty face as his teammates chase air.
Which players will Mourinho bring in during the summer? How will these players affect Real Madrid’s likelihood of winning their first UEFA Champions League since Zinedine Zidane’s piece of magic in 2002?
At 40 years of age, Pep Guardiola has the chance to a second Champions League. Sir Alex Ferguson was 68 years of age, when he won his second Champions League.
Without doubt, Guardiola has had a meteoric rise to his managerial career, can he sustain it?
Eric Abidal's return was a feel good story, as it easily could have been the opposite with him sinking into a depression like Hungarian legend Sándor Kocsis.
Abidal's return is testament to how strong his mentality is in overcoming such adversity. Though it remains to be seen how much the operation has affected his playing ability and how much of an asset he is to Barcelona.
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