It is always a special night in football, whatever be the competition when Real Madrid play Barcelona. The second edition of El Classico for this year's La Liga campaign on Wednesday was special for more than one reason. But let me see here, it is special only for Madrid fans or may be the neutrals. Real had secured the Spanish La liga 3 days before at Osasuna in dramatic fashion and their arch rivals Barca were to give them a guard of honor at the Bernabeu. 80,000 fans inside the stadium which will be hosting the 2010 CL final was filled with Madrid fans enjoying the sights of a wonderful season. This match when completed would further enhance the record book pages. Apart from the 80,000 inside the Bernabeu the match was also watched by 9.2 Million in Spain on TV and i am happy to be one more to the list outside Spain.
Many a Madrid fan may not remember or want to remember a night in November of 2005 when Ronaldinho made the Madrid defense dance to his tunes and Barca left the Bernabeu with a 3-0 win. It looks as though this incident has happened a decade back. From the time the Real players took the pitch through the Barca guard of honor it was clear who was the more confident of the lot. Barca have been in deep trouble with unsettled players, poor performances, and a Manager who seems to have run out of ideas. There was controversy to add to all their troubles even in their thrashing of Valencia 6-0. Reports in Spain claimed that Deco & Eto got themselves booked which would see them accumulate 5 yellow cards and see them suspended for this game. If you ask me i am not a person to think, players do this on purpose. But Eto made a silly challenge in the 87th minute when the game was all but over, and later when Rijkaard was questioned by a member of the press as to whether they knew they were on 4 yellow cards, he said "I am sure both of them knew, if they said they did not then they are lying"
It was a Barca team without Eto and Deco, so it would be Bojan Henry and Gudjohnsen. Schuster was forced to make changes in defense, Cannavaro was suspended after his red card last week against Osasuna, it was Pepe and Heinze in center, Ramos at RB and Marcelo was given the daunting task of marking Messi on the right. The game was off to a slow start, with both teams trying to hold on to the ball. Schuster had packed the Madrid midfield, it was Gago, Diarra, Sneijder and Guti, relatively meaning there were 4 center midfielders on the pitch but playing 2 in front other two. Robben with his superb performances got the nod ahead of Robinho and Raul was the lone striker. Robben was creating most of the early chances as he was proving too fast and good for Zambrotta. When Robben switched flanks to the right, Abidal was doing much better controlling his run. There was also a clash of the goal keeping records at stake in this game, with both Casillas and Valdes running for the lowest goals conceded this season. But soon Valdes was to realize that the competition is over for him. The Zamora trophy all but certainly would be with the Madrid stopper.
The first goal game through some good build up play outside the Barca box when Sneijder and Guti played some superb 1-2 passing to ease past the midfielders, Guti clashed with Marquez, but still was able to square it for Raul who rushing in placed a superb shot past the fully stretched Valdes to make it 1-0.
Being a goal to the good Madrid looked to absorb pressure from Barca, but there was none to absorb. Marcelo was doing well to prevent Messi from making those runs and which was forcing the Argentine to cut inside. Ramos was doing an excellent job of keeping Henry in shackles and that left Bojan to counter both Pepe and Heinze. The 17 year old was literally starved of any service and even touched on the ball in the first period.
Xavi was taken off the equation by Diarra, pretty much the tactics used by Schuster when he played Baptista. Seeing this or even a possible injury, Gudjonsen was replaced by the young Mexican Giovanni Dos Santos. Barca defense did not do any better. Sergio Ramos made a surging run on the right, and did his trade mark cut inside at full pace but collided with Abidal. It looked mostly as though Ramos had initiated the Collision when Abidal was staying put. A free kick, quickly taken by Guti found Robben, but the referee asked it to be re-taken. Zambrotta was no where to be seen when Robben rose un marked to a pin point Guti free kick to head home. Second goal in consecutive games for Robben and the Dutchman himself could not believe that he has scored twice in the space of 3 days with headers. 2-0 Real Madrid in 20 minutes.
Real have taken the weight of the Championship off their back was in no mood to relax, they were enjoying their play and was controlling the midfield. Giovanni was drifting more to the right, which let Messi cut inside, but Gago was there all the time. With two levels in midfield from Madrid and Sneijder always tracking back to defend and his quickness and one touch passing was a treat to watch. All attempted through passes from Barca for which they are usually famous for, were all not reaching the attackers. Messi was not finding a channel to pass the ball when he had the time. Robben when playing on the left wing was causing all kinds of problems for Zambrotta, as he was easily cutting inside and running at him when he had the chance. Robben had another two chances which he did not capitalize on and could not add another goal to the tally. Just before half time Sergio Ramos again made a superb run and blasted a shot/cross across the face of goal, but the on rushing Raul was late and could not connect. Half time it was.
Rijkaard would have thought, to hell with formations, he took out Marquez who was booked in the first half and seemed all over the place, and replaced him with Sylvinho. This move almost made Barca play 3-4-3 formation, but it almost worked miracles, Marcelo the young Brazilian was having a good game, made an attacking run found Guti, who having the chance to shoot elected to square it for Marcelo who was following through in his run, only for Sylvinho to make a last ditch tackle when he was about to pull the trigger. The ensuing pushing and shoving resulted in Valdes getting a yellow card.
This tackle from Sylvinho would have prevented the third goal, but he injured himself and had to be replaced by Edmilson the only option left for Rijkaard. Edmilson who is more known to be a defensive midfielder can also play in the heart of defence. I say "can" because the next minute would prove why. Schuster soon took out Robben and brought in "super sub" Higuain who took just over 50 seconds to score. Diarra on the right side of midfield took the ball off Abidal and squared it for Higuain, who easily side stepped Puyol, Edmilson who should have attacked the ball, tripped over his own feet, the Argentine striker made a cool finish past an on rushing Valdes to make it 3-0. He has been in rich scoring form and in the past two seasons has earned a name among the Madrid fans of scoring the key goals like the one he scored last week at Osasuna. Valdes was almost in tears and throwing his arms up in despair on a defence that looked school boys level.
Marcelo again it was who wanted to get on the score sheet, since he is filling in the boots of the legendary Roberto Carlos i have always thought that the young Brazilian should be more adventurous in putting in some crosses, and attempts at goal. This was his match, even with the responsibility of marking Messi, he still made another run down the left, cut inside Zambrotta again and shot with his right foot. Only a superb save from Valdes prevented the deserving Brazilian.
Schuster wanted to make the party complete and he replaced Captain Fantastico who scored his 18th La Liga goal and brought in Van Nistelrooy. The striker returning from injury took a lesson off Higuain's book. Robinho who was on for Guti, crossed in from the left, right at the face of Puyol who blocked it with his hands, the referee right in the thick of the action called a penalty.
Van Nistelrooy stepped up and with no rustiness neatly rolled into the right when Valdes jumped the wrong direction. 4-0 Real Madrid. This was the 50th Real Madrid goal for Van Nistelrooy, considering that this feat has been achieved in 2 seasons at the club is just superb.
Real probably had enough and were looking to play out the minutes, but still were making attacking inroads. But finally it was time for Messi to raise hands and be counted. He went past player after player but not Casillas as his shot was saved by a finger tip save from a fully stretched Spanish Number 1. But there was a consolation when Henry for once got away from Sergio Ramos and showed great pace and composure when he finished neatly past Casillas to make it 4-1 on the night.
Van Nistelrooy had another chance to make it even more miserable for Barca when put through by Robinho but looked lacking in pace. No one celebrated the Barca goal, Xavi soon picked up his second yellow for dissent and and early bath, and probably the rest of the Barca line up were also hoping to get this over with. It soon happened and the night ended with one of the strongest performances of the season from Madrid.
As for Barca they are behind Madrid by 17 points and most likely end up in 3rd place behind Villareal, which will mean they will even have to play qualifiers for the CL next season. Soon after the Madrid humiliation, Toure mentioned that this was the first time coach Rijkaard was upset at the player's performance. He is not going to have anymore chances as the announcement came right after that he was to be replaced by Pep Guardiola, who is now the Barca B team coach.
This night has created some records as i mentioned in the beginning. This is the first time in 25 years that Real Madrid have won both home and away against Barca in a La Liga campaign. If Real Madrid win the remaining two games and tally a total of 87 points it would the highest since the 20 team La Liga was formed in 97/98.
Here are the match highlights:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EO0WVWDfuBA
Here is a video of the much hyped Guard of Honor
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