One of the showcase matches of European football was played on Monday night at the Nou Camp between two of world football’s greatest rivals – Real Madrid and Barcelona.
Ten out of the 23 players nominated for the coveted Ballon d’Or award were taking part to add further attraction, but the fixture was to provide one of the most dominant performance in recent history from one side, and a far from attractive one from another.
It was seen as an opportunity for Real to show why they were top of La Liga having not lost a competitive match this season prior to the match. Sitting one point ahead of their rivals in the standings and having fallen only three points short last season, showed reasonable grounds for comparison between the two sides.
Yet the only thing drawn from this contest was that Barcelona is undoubtedly the greatest side of this era since the treble winning Manchester United class of 1999.
Jose Mourinho, regarded by many as one of the world’s best managers, was outwitted by Pep Guardiola and in turn had no answer to a rampant Barcelona led by World player of the year Lionel Messi.
The Argentine didn’t get his name on the score sheet but more than contributed as the Catalan giants inflicted a worst defeat ever on Mourinho.
In contrast, Guardiola has now won his past five Classicos and he even managed to shrug off a shove from Cristiano Ronaldo – who once again failed to perform on the big stage and continues to live in the shadow of Messi.
The writing was on the wall as early as the 18th minute after first Xavi and then Pedro gave Barcelona a 2-0 lead. It was the first time that they had gone two goals ahead in a Classico since Gary Linekar netted a hat-trick in a 3-2 win back in 1987.
A dominant performance illustrated by a remarkable possession count of 72 per cent after half an hour looked to have bewildered the usually cool figure of Mourinho. His Portuguese counterpart Ronaldo soon made his frustrations known also – picking up a yellow ticket for an unnecessary push on Guardiola which left the Barcelona players seething.
The pain worsened in the second half for Madrid as Lionel Messi was at it once again, slipping in David Villa for a brace with two magnificent assists before substitute Jeffren rounded off the remarkable 5-0 win. It was the first time Barcelona had beaten their great rivals by such a margin since a victory by the same scoreline in 1994.
Sergio Ramos further disgraced Los Merengues after picking up a second yellow card for a combination of chopping down Messi and pushing Carles Puyol in the face, one of seven for the Real out of a dozen for the match.
Three red cards in two games has shown a ill-disciplined side to their game, though Ramos’ in added time may not have been as “tactical” as his dismissal in the midweek Champions League match was.
So once again Madrid failed to prove once again that they are the Real deal and the Galacticos era now seems long gone, while Mourinho had a far from happy homecoming where he formerly worked as a translator.
For Barcelona, the superstar team in Spain is without doubt theirs, but how much better can it get?
It remains to be seen, but making a lot of world class footballers in white shirts look average enforces their supremacy on both La Liga and world football.
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