For the first thirty minutes of yesterday’s El Clasico, it seemed Real Madrid had taken their first steps toward ending FC Barcelona’s dominance, not just in La Liga but throughout Europe.
A goal inside the opening 30 seconds scored by Karim Benzema was the perfect jump-start to a Madrid engine that would tirelessly pressure the architects of Barcelona’s renowned ‘tiki-taka’ football.
The likes of Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Cesc Fabregas, Gerard Pique and Lionel Messi found little time and space to monopolise possession with their excellent touch, vision and passing.
The Madrid midfield, which was marshaled brilliantly by Xabi Alonso, asserted its physical dominance over Barcelona’s technically superior but physically smaller midfield counterparts.
The result of such pressure saw FC Barcelona waste possession on several occasions, allowing Madrid to successfully play on the counter-attack, with Mesut Ozil and Angel Di Maria in particular causing havoc down the right hand side of Barcelona’s defence.
Unfortunately for Madrid, their failure to transform their dominance over Barcelona into scoreboard pressure contributed significantly to their demise.
Di Maria was wasteful with his passing on several occasions near Barcelona’s penalty area, while Cristiano Ronaldo of all players fluffed a marvellous opportunity to put Madrid two-nil up in the first half after he failed to hit the target from close range.
The price Madrid paid for failing to convert would be a heavy one, as Barcelona talisman Lionel Messi showed why he is the most dangerous footballer on the planet.
With seemingly nothing on, Messi gathered possession on his own side of halfway and dribbled his way past three defenders before producing a wonderful through ball for Alexis Sanchez to score Barcelona’s equaliser.
Sanchez’s goal clearly had a damaging effect on Madrid’s morale as Barcelona’s midfield began to dictate proceedings. And it is here where one can highlight the distinction that Pep Guardiola’s men have over their rivals.
When Barcelona is allowed to take control of possession, they will invariably go on to convert the goal scoring opportunities they create.
Despite limited opportunities to score throughout the contest, Barcelona still managed to attain three goals thanks to the precise build-up play and precise finishing from the likes of Sanchez, Iniesta, Messi, Xavi, Dani Alves and Fabregas.
Madrid on the other hand was incredibly wasteful against Barcelona, with Ronaldo in particular continuing his trend of producing below par performances against Guardiola’s men.
On top of his ordinary miss in the first half, Ronaldo somehow managed to spray a free header wide in the second half which would have leveled the scores at 2-2.
To make matters worse, Ronaldo’s reputation as the world’s best free kick specialist also received a battering.
The 26 year old failed to beat the wall with two free kicks and also produced a lukewarm effort that Valdez comfortably saved.
Overall, this was arguably Ronaldo’s worst performance against Barcelona. in a match where he was expected to finally make a strong claim for the title of world’s best footballer.
Like Madrid, Ronaldo’s performances against Barcelona continue to be a worry, and it remains to be seen whether or not he can help bridge the dichotomy in class that Messi and company still have over the nine-time European champions.
There is no questioning that Madrid certainly possesses the speed, power and skill required to beat Barcelona.
Such potential however needs to be expressed when it counts, and for the first thirty minutes of yesterday’s encounter, Mourinho’s men certainly displayed enough to suggest that they would be celebrating at the end of ninety minutes.
However, Madrid and Ronaldo’s failure to capitalise on the windows of opportunity presented throughout yesterday’s match showed the killer instinct which has been lacking in performances against the Catalan club.
Until Ronaldo and Madrid learn to put their great rivals to the sword, they will both remain a class below Lionel Messi and FC Barcelona respectively.
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