The world witnessed an incredible game between Real Madrid and Barcelona in the first El Clasico of the 2016-17 season. Goals from Luis Suarez and Sergio Ramos ensured that both teams get a point of the game which sees Real Madrid maintain its 6 point lead over Barcelona.
After a fantastic first half where Barcelona was marginally the better team, the Catalans came out all guns blazing in the second half. Luis Suarez gave Barcelona the lead which was followed by a spell of fantastic football from the team in red and blue. However, Neymar and Messi were unable to convert their chances and Sergio Ramos did what he is best known for – score a late header - to break the hearts of the Barcelona faithful.
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The biggest positive for Luis Enrique would be Andres Iniesta’s return. The captain looked in great touch and added a lot of composure to Barcelona’s attack. Real Madrid, on the other hand, gave youngsters Marco Asensio and Mariano Diaz a chance on the biggest stage of them all.
All this and more as here are the five talking points from an intense game:
#1 Barcelona win the midfield battle
Going into their biggest game of the season, Barcelona was struggling for form. Ivan Rakitic had a string of mediocre performances while Sergio Busquets had a horror show against Real Sociedad. However, tonight, Ivan Rakitic stepped up his game while Busquets delivered the performance of his season so far. Portuguese midfielder Andre Gomes had a fantastic game in midfield as well.
Real Madrid was clearly missing Toni Kroos and Casemiro as Mateo Kovacic despite showing signs of class was simply unable to deal with Barcelona’s pressure. Isco started off the game well but Sergio Busquets gave the ex-Malaga man a horrible time on the pitch leaving him for dead with a Cryuff turn on one occasion. Busquets delivered what could be called a footballing masterclass this evening.
Iniesta’s introduction upped the tempo in Barcelona’s game and the Catalans clearly dominated in the midfield this evening. However, the only negatives from Barcelona in midfield was Arda Turan giving away a silly free kick that led to Sergio Ramos’ goal. Denis Suarez had very little to do in the limited time he spent on the pitch while Marco Asensio had a positive effect on Real Madrid.
#2 Real Madrid happy to leave it late
In Zinedine Zidane’s two Clasicos in charge of Real Madrid, the Catalans have easily been the better team on the pitch for at least 60 minutes. However, Real Madrid has not conceded more than a goal in those sixty-odd minutes of intense pressure. It looks like Zidane is happy to sit back and absorb pressure and attack his opponents when they seem to be running out of energy.
While Barcelona could have clearly scored a couple more goals this evening, here is an interesting fact to prove how effective Real Madrid’s tactics against Barcelona has been with Zinedine Zidane as their manager. In the two Clasicos against Barcelona with Zidane as manager, Real Madrid has not conceded a single goal from open play.
This feat is even more astonishing considering Barcelona boast arguably the best-attacking trident in the history of football in Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar. While Luis Enrique did a good job to prepare his defence well for the counter attack this time around, a silly foul led to an equaliser giving an intense game a dramatic end.
#3 The story of two left-backs
Barcelona and Real Madrid boast two of the best attacking left backs in the world in Jordi Alba and Marcelo. While Marcelo has had a decent season so far, Jordi Alba has had a see-saw of a season. With frequent injuries and inconsistent form, Jordi Alba was one of the weak links in Barcelona’s team this season. However, it was a completely different story today.
While both players had standard games in the attack – just as expected, it was one player's defensive skill that made the difference on the evening. Jordi Alba put on his best defensive performance of the season tonight – stepping up right when it mattered. The Spaniard shut out the threat of Vazquez for a majority of the game and hardly allowed Real Madrid to attack from his wing.
Also read: 15 incredible stats from Barcelona vs Real Madrid
On the other hand, Marcelo had one of his worst defensive performances of his season for Real Madrid this evening. The defender lost the ball too often and too easily while he was caught out of position too often leaving Raphael Varane or Sergio Ramos to cover up for him. In the attack, Marcelo was a major threat throughout the game.
#4 Barcelona’s attack have a rare off-game by their standards
Barcelona has been massively dependent on their star trident of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar to step up in the last two seasons, but tonight it was a different story. While none of the players had a bad game, it was not a good game by their extremely high standards. Lionel Messi was brilliant in the midfield but just looked a tad bit nervous in the Real Madrid penalty area.
Neymar, on the other hand, started off in great form but missed two crucial chances to take the game away from Real Madrid. Lionel Messi missed a crucial chance in the second half as well. However, ironically, the lone goal-scorer for Barcelona tonight was the poorest attacker of the three.
Barcelona is heavily dependent on their build up play to find a way through but for a majority of the first half Suarez was either out of position and offside or just not able to hold the defender back to receive the ball. After his great header, he looked in good touch, but it was still an off game by his standards.
Funnily, a poor game is still good enough to get on the goal sheet and threaten the Madrid defence for Barcelona’s attack, so we can only imagine what an in-form attack could do.
#5 Silly fouls, controversial claims – a Classic Clasico
Over the years, El Clasico has been linked with fouls, fights and appealing to the referee too often and both teams did not disappoint on that front tonight. It only took two minutes for the first controversial claim of the game, however, Mascherano's tackle of Lucas Vazquez seemed like a 50-50 challenge and a penalty would have been harsh on Barcelona.
Barcelona, on the other hand, had their fair share of appeals for penalties after plenty of possible handball claims but once again, none of them seemed like a penalty. In all fairness to the referee, he was consistent with his decisions. Barcelona committed far too many fouls in the midfield while Real Madrid committed too many fouls in the attacking third leaving Barcelona with a few great chances.
Also read: El Clasico: Game in pictures
The biggest lesson for both teams could be from the fact that both the goals in the game came from extremely unnecessary fouls, by Raphael Varane and Arda Turan for their respective teams. However, it could have been much more for the Catalans had they taken their chances after receiving plenty of free kicks in the attacking third.
