adminTHE Catalans came out on top in a one-sided Clasico – even without their best player for almost an hour – to leave serious doubts over the future of this latest Real project. The two teams were worlds apart. Barcelona inflicted a humiliating 4-0 defeat upon their fiercest rivals Real Madrid last Saturday evening, they did it at the home of their eternal enemies and for the most part, they did it without Lionel Messi.
Madrid fans around the Santiago Bernabeu were full of optimism before kick-off. Madridistas were happy to see Karim Benzema and James Rodriguez in their starting XI in what was an attacking line-up. But they were even more pleased to see Messi left on the bench.
However, that optimism quickly evaporated as Barca took control of the midfield and then the match. A vast space between the Madrid midfield and the defence allowed Sergi Roberto to turn and thread through an inch-perfect pass for Luis Suarez to fire Barca in front after 11 minutes.
The champions went two ahead six minutes before the break as Andres Iniesta found Neymar with a perfect pass and the Brazilian hit a low shot under Keylor Navas’ body.
Madrid were 2-0 down at the interval and it could have been so much worse as Barca came close to a third right at the end. Fans showed their frustrations with whistles and white handkerchiefs as the referee blew for half-time. Their team had simply not been in the game.
Rafa Benitez was perhaps caught between two different ideas. With his players wanting a more attacking game-plan for the Clasico, he had left Casemiro on the bench after picking the Brazilian for the past eight games and gone with a midfield made up of Toni Kroos, Luka Modric and James.
But the German is not disciplined enough to be the holding midfielder, the Croatian was caught too far forward and the Colombian is a playmaker forced to operate in a deeper role because Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Benzema hog the three positions in attack.
Barca’s pressing was superb, even at 2-0 up, and Madrid’s midfield simply couldn’t cope. Their team full of players strong on the ball but less so without it, Real’s stars were lost at sea as Barca’s ship sailed through the oceans of space in the middle time and time again.
It took only eight minutes for Luis Enrique’s side to end hopes of a Real revival in the second half, an inspired Iniesta driving a sweet shot into the top corner after a lovely lay-off from Neymar. The Spain midfielder was the man of the night, he is always the man for the big occasion and he saves his goals for games like these.
Messi, who was warming up at the time, celebrated the goal with Iniesta on the sidelines and the Argentine was soon on the pitch. Things were going from bad to worse for Madrid. The four-time Ballon d’Or winner started the move for the fourth goal with a fine run and pass for Jordi Alba, who found Suarez in the area with all the time in the world. The Uruguayan chipped Navas to make it 4-0 and round off a super victory.
At the other end, Claudio Bravo made four superb saves as Madrid sought some pride late in the game, but this was Barca’s night. Winners of the treble last season, this Blaugrana team is something special when everything is clicking and they didn’t even need Messi from the start in this one. “Everything went wrong tonight,” admitted Madrid’s director of institutional relations Emilio Butragueno afterwards. “But it’s a time for calm.”
But Luis Enrique was euphoric. “It’s a victory that tastes of blessed glory,” the Barca boss said. – Goal.
Online Reporter