The three sins of Real Madrid against Barcelona

It is a psychological beating more than a footballing defeat. Real Madrid, with more than 1000 days of being the European Champion, were minimized by one of the poorest versions of Barcelona tonight. It is hard to believe that even with the shortcomings that Barcelona reflected this season, Real Madrid would have won against its eternal rival even if they had worked harder and played better.

There were three major effects on Wednesday's game that led to the fall of the home team, three absolute sins that proved to be fatal for the home side.

Lack of mental maturity in the local team

Real Madrid did not know how to be calm at the decisive moments of the game, which came to them in the first half. Given the circumstances of the game, the home team would have been in the final if they would have managed to hold Barcelona in a goalless draw. In crucial junctures, when Madrid created pressure on the visitors, they failed to maintain their composure and could not convert the chances they had in hand. Barcelona took advantage of those soft blindspots of Real Madrid and made it pay dearly.

Excessive physical wear in the first half

Real Madrid were much better than Barcelona in the first half, but had no luck when it came to scoring. But at the same time, in their euphoria for wanting to win the game against their eternal rival, they squeezed physical wear that would have always affected them in the second half.

Real Madrid were frustrated in the second half due to high pressing from Barcelona. As Real started to tire out, they presented they Barca with pockets of space in the middle of the park which allowed Barca to make runs and distribute the balls into the left and right flanks of the pitch, where players like Dembelé made the difference in the first and second goal.

Dull column

Finally, despite seeing a great first half, Real Madrid had very soft versions in its backbone of play, from its striker without being able to score, to a very weak version of the goalkeeper. Vinicius, despite having a great amount of the ball, did not know how to score. On the other hand, both Kroos and Casemiro had a rather weak performance pressing the ball, as in managing the times correctly in the distribution of the ball. Then there was Sergio Ramos, who despite having a good game in general terms, had a very weak mark in the first goal and did not avoid the offside in the second. Finally, Keylor Navas had a very discreet game, but on the few occasions that Barcelona arrived, he had no participation in the goal plays.