What a great match we watched last night! El Clasico never fails to amaze the fans wherever they are. Many chances, three golas, three balls stopped by the posts, a lot of tension and also a red card. But however, Real Madrid managed to get an extremely important and deserved win against the historic rivals.
The preparation of Real Madrid was really as it should have been. As soon as the game started the hunger and the determination to take the lead was clearly seen in Zidane’s boys. Lots of quick plays, fast runs and obvious physical freshness. It only took 13 minutes for Madrid to take the lead. Lucas Vasquez put a ground level cross from the right and Benzema reached the ball faster than the opponent, scoring an amazing goal with the backheel. Nothing to do for Ter Stegen! This goal boosted up the team and confused the opponent. The white shirts continued to dominate and doubled the score with Toni Kroos. His shot from the free kick was deflected by Dest and Ter Stegen was once again caught off guard. 2-0 and it was only the 30th minute. It seemed like it would not end there. Real Madrid did not lower the rhythm but instead kept pushing for more. It could have been 3-0 soon after, but Federico Valverde’s effort bounced off the woodwork and Lucas Vasquez who was nearby didn’t benefit as his shot was blocked by Ter Stegen. It seemed like Real would get an easy win but as the first half was reaching the end the players started to feel the weight of the high rhythm they had most of the time. As the minutes passed Barcelona started to recover and tried to get back in the game. In the last moments of the first half it was Messi with a corner kick that really got near to scoring as his shot aimed directly (maybe unintentionally) at the goal was stopped by the vertical post.
The second half continued with Real Madrid tryiong to dominate the midfield, but this time it looked harder. Barcelona subbed Dest and his place was taken by Griezmann in an attempt to create more opportunities to the midfield which was suffering the great performance of Real’s midfield. Things started to get better for Barcelona and their ball possession increased. Both teams tried to create chances, but it was Barcelona which managed to score as Alba put in a cross and found Minguenza who had been pushing forward as much as possible. Minguenza’s shot from inside the box was stopped only by the net and the match was reopened. Real Madrid struck the post again, this time through Vinicius Junior while Barcelona continued to push in search of an equalizer. In the next 10 minutes Real made 4 subs as Zidane thought it would be better to put some fresh players on the pitch to try to score and also to defend better when necessary. First it was Asensio for Valverde and after that a 3 sub campaign saw Benzema, Kroos and Vinicius leaving the place to Diaz, Isco and Marcelo. Barcelona also made 2 subs taking out Busquets and Araujo for Sergi Roberto and Ilaix Moriba. The pressure increased and Barcelona came close to scoring with Alba and then with Moriba. But, Real Madrid didn’t retreat and continued to try. The game continued with both teams trying to create and score without focusing too much on defending. On the 81st minute Dembele and Pedri left their place to Trincao and Braithwaite. The last minutes became a real drama. Barcelona was trying desperately to push forward while Madrid started trying to use counter attacks and focus more on controlling the ball when it was the chance and breaking the opponent’s attempts as soon as possible. As Braithwaite fell down inside the area the Catalans felt they should were awarded a penalty but the referee denied it as the contact between Braithwaite and Mendy was not serious. The tension increased and Alba got a yellow card for protesting. Soon after the protagonist became Casemiro who in a few attempts to stop the opponent made two punishable interventions and was sent off leaving Real in 10 men. However this did not outshine his amazing performance. Real tried the best to defend the result but risked a lot. Marcelo lost a great chance to score the third goal as he found himself in front of Ter Stegen and soon after Barcelona had two clear chances. The most dramatic one was the shot from Moriba which was stopped by the crossbar just 10 seconds before the last minute was about to end. The match was concluded shortly after and Real Madrid got the second El Clasico in this season!
The performance of Real Madrid was really good, especially in the first half as for several minutes Barcelona was totally dominated and everything was going according to the plan. However the team should be careful not to spend a lot of energy in the first half as it could become difficult to manage the second half. As the opponent’s pressure increases it becomes very painful to follow their actions and the chance to make mistakes increases. However this could be avoided if the energy spend in the first half was converted in more goals. More goals scored mean more psychological pressure on the opponent and their reaction. Being in a great disadvantage can make any team give up, but 2-0 is not a result that gives certainty taking in consideration the level of the opponent and the type of match (in El Clasico rarely happens that one of the teams gives up). So, in this match can serve to remind the team that chances should be fully utilized in order to win a game and avoid suffering. There are always details to improve. However, these things are often present in great matches like this and Madridistas should be very happy with this victory since it will give a great psychological boost to the team and this means a lot in this challenging period. Remember that in only eight days Real’s calendar has three difficult matches and Real has already won two of them. This shows that this is a team with a great character, is united and is in a very good shape. Everything must keep going as it is.
Meanwhile the table is finally getting more positive for the Galacticos as Atletico Madrid could only get away with a draw against Real Betis and Real Madrid stays now only on point behind. However the race will continue to be tough as the first three places are only one and two points away from each other. It will probably be an open challenge until the last match. Real Madrid is an experienced team with a lot of stars in it and nothing is impossible to reach. The 35th title is waiting, the team must only keep staying focused!
Hala Madrid!
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