El Clasico: Barcelona 2–1 Real Madrid

Neymar played superbly in his first Clasico

Unlike the previous few seasons, it had been quite a while since we had our last ‘El Clasico’. A lot had changed, too, for both clubs with new managers and new players to boast, a refreshing change if I may say so.

Tata Martino v. Carlo Ancelotti, Neymar v. Bale, Messi v. Ronaldo, it was all on stage on the biggest show on the planet. Barca were coming into the game on the back of a near perfect start to their season with 25 points off a possible 27 in their 9 games, while Real Madrid got a neat 22 points off their first 9 games.

However, for the coming 90-odd minutes, the footballing world was going to focus their attentions at the Nou Camp, to witness the great eternal rivalry of Real Madrid and Barcelona, and the new money-boys – Neymar Jr. & Gareth Bale.

Barca began with a nearly predicted line-up in Valdes-Adriano-Pique-Mascherano-Alves-Busquests-Fabregas-Xavi-Iniesta-Messi. Carlo’s Madrid on the other hand went for the untested line-up of Diego Lopez-Marcelo-Pepe-Varane-Carvajal-Ramos-Khedira-Modric-Di Maria-Ronaldo-Bale. Ramos playing in an unfamiliar role in the Madrid centre-midfield.

Barca started off on the brighter note with the greater share of possession and more of the play coming from the feet of the Barca players. They passed the ball better, moved it around better, found their team mates better, pressed better, and overall seemed to know what the plan was; all of which was lacking in the all-white Real Madrid.

With Bale in the line-up, Ronaldo and Bale took turns as the false 9, the end – result being neither of whom was as effective as anyone would have hoped. This is not to say that Barca dominated. By no means did Barca dominate the game. A silky Iniesta run found an unmarked Neymar, who cut-back onto his right foot and placed one into the far corner leaving the hapless Diego Lopez just watching. It probably took a deflection off the defender (Carvajal), but it was a mix of a lost Madrid and a prepared Barca that found the ball in the back of the Real goal.

Once that goal was conceded, it seemed that Real had finally started to get into the game. They began to press higher up the pitch and show the necessary aggression dispossessing Barca as they slowly tried to claw their way into the game. Even Gareth Bale showed a few glimpses of what we might expect from him in the coming months with a couple of his trademark runs, driving at the opposition, cutting in from the right and creating shooting angles for himself.

But it seemed like it had been a while since Bale had been at it, and his rustiness was getting apparent as his shots were a little wayward and his touches were not really upto the mark that you would expect from the world’s most expensive player. Real Madrid, however, kept pushing, unable to create any real clear cut chance to score though. It was more or less the case with both sides, dispossessing the other, but unable to really worry the opposition goalie.

The second half, however, was a completely different ball game. Real Madrid had clearly upped a gear and were looking more threatening to get an equalizer. They were more aggressive, pushing higher and clearly showing their desire to want more of the ball. The lack of another pure, out-and-out midfielder was becoming evident as Madrid huffed and puffed and pushed Barca into their own half.

Bale’s Clasico came to an end as he was substituted around the 60th minute for Karim Benzema who immediately added a new dynamic to the Real Madrid attack. Madrid seemed more familiar to their expected task with Benzema on the pitch. ‘That’ moment seemed to arrive when Cristiano Ronaldo was denied a penalty for what appeared to be a clear shove by Mascherano on the Real favourite inside the penalty box only for the protesting former World Player of the Year to be bluntly turned down by the Referee.

Replays, however, might show otherwise. Benzema also seemed turned on in his substitute role as he hit the woodwork with 15 minutes to spare. Real Madrid were knocking as they pressed and attacked, trying to find a way through the Barca defense. Jese Rodriguez was brought on for Angel Di Maria, who was not having his best game, and Alexis Sanchez came on for Andres Iniesta.