10-man Real Madrid came from behind to beat Barcelona 2-1 thanks to goals from Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo and cut their lead at the top of La Liga to six points. Gerard Pique scored from the corner to give Barcelona the lead just before the hour mark.
That goal was largely against the run of play and Marcelo’s lung-bursting run right through the heart of the Barcelona defence helped Toni Kroos set up Benzema for the equaliser. Just as the visitors started to pile on the pressure, Sergio Ramos was sent-off with six minutes to go.
Yet, barely a minute later, Ronaldo calmed brought down Gareth Bale’s cross and scored the winner to end Barcelona’s 39-game unbeaten run and bring Real Madrid to within seven points of the La Liga leaders with seven games to go.
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Here are the major talking points from the game
A game of two halves
Barcelona came into the game on a 39-game unbeaten run, this was Zinedine Zidane’s first El Clásico and the Blaugrana were 10 points ahead of Real and were running away with the league. Although this was the most anticipated match of the year, one still had the feeling this might not be much of a contest on current form, but that couldn’t have been farther from the truth.
Although the first half was the hosts dominating the contest without creating too many clear-cut chances, the visitors ended the half strongly, even if the half on the whole was high on action but low on quality with Sergio Ramos being an extremely lucky man.
While it was Barcelona who took the lead in the second half, it was against the run of play as it was Real Madrid, who dominated the contest. They were even unlucky to have a perfectly legitimate goal ruled off for a foul but Ronaldo’s winner gave them a deserved win in the end. Those predicting an easy win for the hosts were left with some egg on their faces as Real Madrid outplayed them and were worthy winners of a game of two different halves.
As they, all good things have to come to an end and as glorious as the Blaugrana’s unbeaten run was, it is finally over and they are now just six points ahead of Atletico, who are in second place, in La Liga and have a crucial UEFA Champions League quarter-final just around the corner.
Casemiro steals the show
Former Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti might have said that preparing a game for Messi is impossible. But in Casemiro, Zinedine Zidane found a player who was able to make the impossible possible. Ahead of the game, Ancelotti said: “If you are to prepare for a game against Messi, well, you have to avoid speaking about Messi, about the skill and the ability of Messi.“
But that is certainly something that Zidane would have found difficult to do but after this game, he would have certainly gained some confidence in the Brazilian central midfielder, Casemiro who did the job of stopping Messi, Suarez and Neymar perfectly. In a game that was a filled with superstars, it was the Brazilian, who stole the show.
Alhough the Frenchman had reservations about Casemiro earlier in his managerial stint, he trusted him to win the ball and stop Barcelona’s trio from doing what they do best and the midfielder did not disappoint. He stuck to his task, helped his side maintain shape and laid the platform for their fast breaks.
Although Marcelo was all over the pitch, playing right winger, at times central midfielder and mostly left winger, it was Casemiro’s presence that gave him the freedom to do all of that.
MSN flatter to deceive
Going into the game all the talk was about how Barcelona's attacking trio of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar were in scintillating form and were going to tear apart the Real Madrid defence. Instead, not only were they outshone by Real Madrid’s trio of Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo in an attacking sense, but they also showed more spirit and did their defensive duties and helped their side secure a shock win.
Neymar, for all his flicks and tricks, wasn't too much trouble for Dani Carvajal, Casemiro seemed to have Messi in his pocket and Suarez seemed more interested in going to ground than taking part in any meaningful attack.
On the other hand, not only did two of Real’s trio score but they also tracked. The sight of Ronaldo, tracking back and almost playing as a right back at one point isn’t one that is too common. It was not just him, but Bale and Benzema joined in as well as they managed to click offensively while at the same time perform their defensive responsibilities diligently, an uncommon occurence, especially at Real Madrid, where attackers seldom track back.
Although he wasn’t on the score sheet and the other two were, it was arguably Bale, who was Real Madrid’s standout performer after Casemiro. His pace was a constant thorn in the Barcelona defence and he gave Jordi Alba a torrid time.
This might be a rare off-day for MSN but it was one that BBC took advantage of, thanks to their grit and determination and not just their skills.
Ramos’ luck finally runs out
Sergio Ramos holds the record for the most red cards in La Liga history. Despite being an accomplished central defender, his penchant for committing a silly tackle or unneccessarily getting involved in things that don’t concern him precede him. So when he was cautioned in the 10th minute, Real Madrid fans would have certainly had their hearts in their mouths, hoping that he did not get sent off.
Yet, barely more than 10 minutes later, it seemed as though he was going to make every Real fan’s worst nightmare come true as he tripped Lionel Messi, who was already on the way down, just outside the box. While the debate surrounding whether it was a penalty or not will continue to rage as people question whether the contact continued inside the box or not, one thing was for certain, that was a foul and Ramos should have been given his second yellow and sent off.
But the referee waved play on and the Spanish centreback survived. In the second half too, barely minutes after the restart, he hacked down Luis Suarez and the Camp Nou waited with bated breath as they thought the Real captain would finally get the red card, but the referee, who gave the free-kick this time, didn’t show him a card.
But Ramos’ luck finally ran out as another hack on the Uruguayan striker, with six minutes left on the clock, finally saw him get his 21st red card of his career and fourth against Barcelona. Thankfully for Real, that didn’t cost them too much as they scored barely a minute later and won the game.
Reputations make referee’s job harder
Refereeing at the Camp Nou, in front of almost 100,000 fans is unlikely to be particularly easy. Especially, when you consider that it is the El Clásico with the partisan crowd looking for anything remotely resembling a 50-50 call to go the home side’s way.
But blocking out crowds is possible, however, trying to find out which is the foul and which isn’t when the players are feigning injury and creating mountains out of molehills, certainly isn’t. So you certainly understand why referee Hernandez Hernandez might have found it difficult to do his job with Dani Alves and Pepe going down like they were shot, when the contact was minimal.
While the referee let plenty go unpunished, perhaps the major reason why he was a talking point was because of the decisions that he did and didn’t give. The decision to not send off Ramos, not once but twice before the second yellow came around was certainly one such instance. Ruling out a perfectly valid header from Gareth Bale for a non-existent foul on the defender was another.
It is certainly not fair to blame the referee for off-side calls but it was fair to say that he had a memorable game and will be remembered for all the wrong reasons.
