Hay Liga?

If a week is a long time in politics, than three days is a long time in football. Just 72 hours after Real Madrid’s ten point lead over Barcelona was cut to eight by an exquisite Santi Cazorla free kick, Marco Senna ensured that the gap was narrowed even further last night. Now the difference between the two sides is just six points, a much more palpable figure for Pep Guardiola’s squad to digest.

Real were caught off guard on Sunday against a Malaga team which unexpectedly popped up out of the woodwork, six months after it had proclaimed to the world in pre-season that it was about to shake things up at the top. Despite taking a first half lead through Karim Benzema, Madrid couldn’t kill the game off and paid the price right at the death as a result, when a poorly positioned Iker Casillas could only look on helplessly as the league’s most prolific dead ball specialist, Cazorla (four goals from 21 attempts), found the top corner of the Madrid captain’s net. The eerie silence that followed the former Villarreal star’s equaliser gave the Bernabeu the feel of a morgue.

It was no secret that Madrid had faced some arduous tests in the weeks proceeding Sunday night’s game – the close call in Vallecas, followed by the equally thrilling and controversial victory over Betis, as well as the slug fest in the Coliseum – but these were on the road and, while scrappy and disjointed, they all resulted in three points for the league leaders.

The fact that Sunday night saw los blanco’s being pilfered of points on their own stomping ground -- a place where visiting teams are supposed to come to get their bellies tickled -- sent shock waves through the stands in Chamartín. Suddenly, the team that was making a habit of winning when playing poorly, was now just playing poorly. The fans couldn’t even bring themselves to boo.

Mourihno’s reaction to all this was to revert to Mourihno tactics. Out with the recently back-in-favour Kaká and in with the workhorse Lass Diarra for last night’s encounter away to Villarreal. A technical and creative maestro replaced by a disruptor, of the Claude Makelele mould. Never mind that the Yellow Submarine had lost its previous three matches and had just sacked its second manager of the season, the Madrid coach decided that it was more important to prevent the home team from playing rather than taking the game to them. Thus a triumvirate made up of Xabi Alonso, Sami Khedira and Lass was favoured over pairing Özil and Kaka together.

The Special One stuck to his defensive guns even when Lass picked up a needless booking early on. Aware that the Frenchman is nowhere near as effective when he’s on a yellow, Mou choose to change him for Callejón. Admittedly this was more of a positive move but just as the tall haired midfielder was getting into the swing of things, a clumsy challenge from Bruno meant the sub had to come off at the break. Cue Hamit Altintop. The Turkish enigma came on as a bemused looking bench made up of Higuaín, Kaká and Esteban Granero, looked on. Madrid went ahead through a moment of telepathic brilliance between Özil and Ronlado, in an otherwise turgid, stop-start spectacle.

The visitors were punished though when (you guessed it) Altintop conceded a free kick on the edge of Madrid’s box, which Senna duly dispatched into the bottom right hand corner of Casillas’ net, with the keeper being guilty of poor positioning again.

The chaos that ensued after that was farcical. First Ramos became the most sent off player in Real Madrid’s history (14 reds) when he picked up a second booking for recklessly mauling Nilmar in a 50/50. He was quickly followed by Özil who clapped his way into the book, just as the team’s physio, Rui Faria had done earlier on. After that Mou got in on the act, as did Pepe who couldn’t keep his grievances with referee Paradas Ramero to himself in the tunnel after the final whistle. Even the usually angelic Ronaldo felt the team was hard done by and made his disapproval with the referee’s performance clear with a hand gesture that translates as “robbery”.

Madrid’s disgust with the referee was so venomous that neither the manager nor the assistant, Karanka, would make an appearance in the post-match press conference for fear of what they might say. But was this just a diversion? While the ref did have a nightmare, it went both ways. The harsh booking Pepe received for simulation, when his mouth was bleeding, was cancelled out by two penalty shouts for Villarreal which weren’t awarded.

Earlier on in the night, Marcelo Bielsa made no qualms about taking the rap for his Athletic side losing to Atlético Madrid, “I feel especially responsible for the defeat because the decisions I made didn’t solve any of the problems I intended to correct, which weakened the team”. A far cry from the Madrid coach’s refusal to own up to things.

Last week when los blancos seemed untouchable, the Catalan press resorted to playing the victim, claiming that referees were unfairly favouring Barca’s eternal rival. Mundo Deportivo went with the headline “Mano Blanca” (White Hand) to highlight the five “clear-cut” (non)decisions that were to blame for the ten point gap.  Now with the past four days events behind him, Mou is probably attempting to muster up his own conspiracy theories in an attempt to galvanise his squad. It wouldn’t be the first time.

Apparently dignity is a small price to pay where winning the league is concerned. However, with only six points separating first and second, the shouts of “Hay Liga” (League On) that had most of us rolling our eyes on Sunday definitely carry more weight now, especially when you factor in that Real still have to play Osasuna, Atlético, Athletic and, of course, Barca away.

The mask has slipped for Madrid in the past few days and more gun hoe performances like last night are only going to rattle the team further during the run-in. It seems as though Mou’s paranoia is getting the better of him or maybe it’s a case that Guardiola’s “there’s no way we’re catching Madrid” remarks were an ingenious mind trick all along?

El Clásico: 10-12-2011

Ronaldo eyeing up Messi

The scene was set for yet another dramatic clash between the elite of world football.

A game which featured all three Balon D’Oro nominees, two thirds of the candidates for FIFA World Coach of the year award and two teams who between them could boast a collective score line of 138-23 in all competitions since they last crossed paths back in August’s Super Cup.

In midweek Pep Guardiola attempted to deflect the focus away from the enormity of his side’s encounter in the Santiago Bernabéu by speaking about how events elsewhere merited more attention than a mere game of football, namely those in Brussels, where the future of the Euro was being mulled over yesterday. Needless to say his efforts were in vain. As perilous a state as the EU finds itself in economically, the truth of the matter is that financial recessions just doesn’t generate as much passion or interest as El Clásico does.

Football’s most decorated club in recent years toe-to-toe against the most decorated club of all time - Real Madrid versus FC Barcelona - and, for the first time since becoming coach at Chamartín, José Mourinho found his team heading into the match as favourites.

Despite having been a different class coming into tonight’s game, los blancos will no doubt feel their recent surge in form a hallow consolation as once again they succumbed to the mesmerising football of their arch nemesis in a 3-1 home defeat and thus threw away a great opportunity to effectively wrap up the title race at such an early stage into the campaign.

Mourinho fantasising about a bolt of lightening taking out Messi

As it stands now the two teams are neck and neck in first position, with Real having a game in hand. However, even with that advantage, today’s result will be a massive psychological blow for Mou’s team as their self-created bubble was so savagely burst in front of them and talk of a shift in power towards the Spanish capital will be very much muted as a result.

With most of the pressure being heaped on Barcelona going into the tie, Pep kept his cards close to his chest and the multiple selection imponderables remained that way until close to kick off. Speculation about which formation would be employed (the work-in-progress 3-4-3 or tighter 4-3-3)? Who would appear up front with Messi? And whether Gerard Pique or Charles Puyol would play were closely guarded secrets the Barça coach was in no mood to reveal to the press.

Having made no secret about his intentions to start with a 4-3-3 formation with a three-man trivote in the middle of the park, the two main points of discussion surrounding Mou’s starting XI were, would Lass Diarra start in the middle along with Sami Khedira and Xabi Alonso or do a job as right back, as question marks hung over Alvaro Arbeloa’s fitness. And who would get the nod to accompany Di María and Ronaldo up front, Karim Benzema or Gonzalo Higuaín?

In the end the Special One couldn’t resist a surprise. Presumably because Arbeloa wasn’t 100% to start, utility man Fabio Coentrão started at right-back while Khedira made way for Özil in midfield, meaning that the trivote idea was ditched in place of a 4-2-3-1 formation. The system that had provided their 15-game winning sreak and best utilises the attacking prowess of Ronaldo, Özil and Di María, with Benzema getting the nod up top.

Meanwhile Pep made some eyebrow raising selection choices of his own, with both David Villa and Javier Mascherano being sacrificed. Going with a 3-4-3, both Pique and Puyol partnered each other at the back alongside Eric Abidal, while la pulga was accompanied by Cesc and Alexis up front.

Much of the build-up to the game focused on how improved Madrid have become this season and their relentless pressing game was highlighted as a real worry for their visitors. Nonetheless, no one expected them to come out of the traps in the manner with which they did.

Twenty-four seconds was all Benzema needed to justify his inclusion, scoring the quickest goal in Clásico history. However the creation of the goal owed more to a horrendous error from Victor Valdes than a great Madrid move, the Barca keeper made a hash of a routine clearance straight from kick-off by gifting the ball to Di María whose failed through ball was blocked only as far as Ozil and his deflected shot looped towards the poaching Frenchman, who was able to adjust his stance and volley in from close range.

An amazing start, which madridistas probably thought was a just the beginning of a memorable night. Unfortunately for them it soon became one they’ll quickly want to forget.

Apart from the opening goal, the high-octane start produced few clear-cut opportunities for either side. Messi got the better of Ramos in the fifth minute after the wet surface caused the centre-half to lose his footing, but the ensuing run and snap shot was safely palmed away by Iker Casillas for a corner.

Ronaldo, again failing to live up to his world-class reputation on the big occasion, was guilty of glory hunting soon after, when a wonderfully delicate pass from Benzema to feed the Portuguese talisman in should have been laid off to Di María, who was in a much better position to score. Instead he went for the spectacular shot, leathering it well wide.

Messi punished such greediness minutes later with yet another mazy, chaos-creating run through the Madrid midfield, beating Lass and Ramos, then playing a superb vertical ball into the path of Alexis who, with plenty still to do, cooly shrugged off the hot-on-his-heels Coentrao and Pepe before rifling the ball well out of Casillas’ reach into the bottom left hand corner.

For all the talk before the match of referee, David Fernández Borbalán’s anti-madridista bias from certain corners of the Spanish sporting press (guess which ones), he handled the game well. However just before half-time he had a big call to make as a late challenge by Messi on Alonso which wasn’t punished with what would have been a second yellow card for the Argentine. Overall though, the ref was fair. All five yellows he produced were bookable offences and this time Mourinho will have to accept his side’s inferiority to a far stronger team than blame the referee for the result.

The equaliser signalled the start of Barca’s dominance in the game, and from that point on Real were a shadow of the team which has performed so dominantly this season.

Alexis levels matters

Soon into the restart things went from bad to worse for the home side, when Xavi, on his 600^th appreance for the blaugrana, attempted a speculative effort from outside the box and his, admittedly well struck, shot took a wicked deflection off Marcelo which wrong-footed Casillas, who could only watch helplessly as the ball bounced in off the post to make it 2-1, seemingly in slow motion.

Soon after and against the run of play, Ronaldo failed to make things level with a golden opportunity from a ball swung in from the right that the former Manchester United man only needed to direct into Valdes’ net from all of six yards out with no one marking him. Instead he headed it wide and had to look on in pain as Cesc Fabregas was on hand to show him how to finish with his head just a minute later.

Xavi mid fishing anecdote 

From Ronaldo’s miss Barcelona started a lightening fast sweeping move involving the ever-present Messi who released Alves on the right who then sent in a perfect cross towards Madrid’s back post which Cesc met with a powering header that flew into the back of the net. At 3-1 the game was over.

A speculative shot from Benzema, cutting in on his right, could have provided the home side with a lifeline had the recently introduced Higuaín been able to get on the end of it as it zipped past Valdes’ goal, however, it was beyond his reach and there were to be no more chances for the home side.

The game ended to a deafening cacophony of booing and hissing from the home support. Barcelona put an end to any doubts about their mental resolve and quietened and detractors who were pointing to their poor (by their standards) away record, by strolling to what in the end was an easy three points.

Back to the drawing board for Mou, who will have to lift his squad’s spirits ahead of next week’s trip to Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán to face Sevilla.

FT: Real Madrid 1 (Benzema 1) Barcelona 3 (Alexis 29, Marcelo (og) 52, Fabregas 65)

Real Madrid: Casillas; Lass (Khedira), Pepe, Ramos, Marcelo; Coentrão, Alonso; Di María (Higuaín), Özil (Kaka), Ronaldo; Benzema.

Barcelona: Valdés; Alves, Piqué, Puyol, Abidal; Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta (Pedro); Cesc (Keita), Messi, Alexis (Villa)

Fact: In 82 years of La Liga only twice has a team lifted the title after losing a clásico at home. Barca 28-29 & Madrid 75-76 

El Clasico's Fire Power Under the Lens

With the world coming to a stand still this Saturday night to watch the two titans of Spanish and, let’s face it, world football battle it out, I take a look at both Real Madrid and Barcelona’s forward line ups.

Real Madrid

First of all in the white corner a reluctant mention must go to Ángel Di María, who is in the form of his life at the moment and with his 11 assists (the most by any player in any of the top five European leagues) and three goals is thoroughly justifying the €30 million Mou coughed up to Benfica for him. Although certain elements of his game continue to frustrate this blogger, i.e. his persistent diving, his all round play this season has been top drawer and more so than ever he will be a real threat to the Barca back line as his creative streak shows no signs of petering out.

Di Maria: A moment of hand puppetry after scoring

2011/12 has been Real Madrid’s best ever start to a season. Breaking the previous club record of 46 goals in the opening 14 games, held by the 1959/60 team, which included DiStefano, Puskas and Gento, the current squad has notched up an incredible 49 goals. That’s an average of 3.5 goals per game.

Obviously without Cristiano Ronaldo running riot in midfield things would be very different. Rampant in midfield and devastating in front of goal CR7 is in blistering form this year, and apart from his 17 league goals he has also turned provider on six occasions. El Clasico, and it’s fair to say the big occasions in general, have not always produced the best from the 26 year old, however, scoring the winner against the old enemy in the Copa del Rey final this year will have boosted his already astoundingly high confidence no end. And while previous encounters between the sides at the Bernabéu have seen the former Manchester United ace come up short in comparison to Lionel Messi in the never-ending battle to find out which one of them is the world’s greatest player, this time round the surrogate father is almost unplayable at home. His eye for goal is keener than ever, as his six goals and four assists in six league games go to prove.

Nonetheless, the Portuguese maestro is not the only blanco Pep will be concerned about.

Karim Benzema and Gonzalo Higuaín are also making waves, if not significant ripples, in the scorer charts with 19 league goals between them. Mourinho’s fondness for a 4-2-3-1 formation, in order to exploit space for Ronaldo and Di María to prowl the wings and cause havoc, means that the two forwards are used interchangeably, usually on a game-to-game basis.

Last night against Ajax in the final group game, just for the hell of it, the Special One started with both of them together. Any inkling either player had about this experimental tactic being repeated on Saturday was nipped in the bud my Mou after the game when he said, “Saturday is a different game and Cristiano, Di María and either Benzema or Higuaín will play”.

The fact that it was the former Lyon man who came off early in Amsterdam could be interpreted as the French man being rested ahead of the big clash on the weekend.

Benzema, having originally struggled to settle in, now looks at home in Madrid, thanks in no short part to having the club’s sporting director and fellow Gaul, Zinedine Zidane as a mentor. Benzema has always had the necessary level of natural talent to fit in at the club but previously seemed to lack the psychological strength an institution like Madrid requires. He is coping far better with the competition within the squad now though and seems to be enjoying his football once again. Of the two forwards he is probably the more complete player: able to play as the lone man up front or drop deeper if needs be, as he showed when filling in for Di Maria in midfield recently.

"No hard feelings mate"

All the same, Higuaín is by no means a second rate striker and could easily feature. The affable French-born Argentine is as cynical as they come, holding the best goals to games ratio of all la liga players: only seven starts and seven appearances as a sub in the current campaign have produced 12 goals from Pipita.

Barcelona

While Mourinho’s decision as to who will start between Benzema and Higuaín is anyone’s guess, los culés have one player who (failing a natural disaster or a well orchestrated abduction by Madrid fans) is guaranteed to start, the untouchable Argentine, Leo Messi. A superlative heavy homage to la pulga (the flee) is wholly unnecessary, as we all know what the wizard from Rosario is capable of: 17 league goals and 7 assists since the beginning of the season speaks for itself. Even though only one of these goals was scored on the road (against Athletic), the Santiago Bernabéu is a particularly fruitful hunting ground for the number ten, where in this calendar year alone he has silenced los merengues no less than four times in three games, including during the Champions League semi-final, when he took on the Madrid midfield and back line singlehandedly in a mazy, one-man-against-the-world style dribble before cooly slotting the ball into the back of Casillas’ net.

Gentlemen before battle: Ronaldo and Messi

Pep’s selection conundrum comes in the form of choosing between the other world class strikers at his disposal. Whether the Philosopher (as old buddy Zlatan affectionately refers to him) sticks with the 4-3-3 formation, which he has employed for most of the season, or reverts to a tighter 4-4-2, in order to quash Real’s midfield, remains to be seen. Going on previous encounters I’m willing to hazard a guess at the former, in which case the chances of making the starting XI would be much more favourable for the likes of David Villa, Alexis Sanchez, Pedro or this season’s Masía revelation, Isaac Cuenca (Adriano still out with a knock).

Having to play in a system that’s designed to best utilise star man Messi requires the other forwards to adapt, and in some cases play out of position. This is definitely true for Villa, who for his standards has had a pretty quiet season so far. Rumours that he and Messi don’t get along with each other should to be taken with a grain (if not a shaker) of salt, however, there is no denying that El Guaje is being played wider than he’d like, and seeing as he doesn’t offer much in terms of defensive duties or build up play this puts extra pressure on his finishing ability. Nonetheless, even on his quiet days the number 7 is capable of scoring goals from thin air, like during his last run out at the Bernabéu when he cut in on his right and curled the ball spectacularly into the top corner of Madrid’s net to equalise, having done little else up until that point.

 Infectious yawn: Villa and Pedro

There is also the prospect of Alexis Sánchez, whose arrival to the Camp Nou was somewhat overshadowed by all the drama surrounding Cesc Fabregas’ return to Catalonia. The Chilean didn’t have an ideal start to his la liga career, picking up a hamstring injury against Real Sociedad, which saw him side-lined for most of October and lost him his place in the pecking order. However, in recent weeks he has found the frightening form which made him such a hit in Udinese. Fast, skilful and willing to track back, Alexis is a versatile forward who can play anywhere along the front line and even drop deeper into midfield if called upon to.

No one expected new boy Cuenca to hit the ground running in the manner which he has since coming into the Barca first team. While he may not have exactly been blessed in the looks department, the precocious 20 year old makes up for this with his footballing talent. A definite crowd-pleaser, he possesses all the hallmarks of an azulgrana: pace, pin-point passing, invention, intelligence and finishing. As Guardiola so eloquently put it after another fine performance against Levante on Saturday, “Physically speaking he might not be popular with the ladies, but on the field he does things that will amaze you. He does his work perfectly!” Playing out of his skin against BATE in the Champions League last night and contributing to all four goals will have done his chances of starting his first Clasico no harm.

Girl repulser, Isaac Cuenca 

That leaves Pedro. Ankle problems have limited his playing time this season and, although, lasting the whole 90 minutes on Tuesday night against BATE he probably lacks enough match time to merit a start. Saying that, his work rate, passing and knack for scoring important goals will ensure that he remains an ace up Pep’s shirt sleeve and is likely to feature at some stage during the clash.

Verdict

The stage is set for another epic encounter and this time Madrid has the upper hand because of their six point advantage going into it. That said Barca are sure to have fire in their bellies and will do whatever it takes to close the gap between the clubs.

A Truce through the City

With Del Bosque’s men losing out to a fortuitous yet impressive English side on Saturday, the Spanish public needed some respite, or at least an adequate distraction, from the continued difficulties la selección seems to be having where friendlies are concerned. As the international break had left football fans with a whole Sunday to fill by themselves, other interests outside the sport had to be pursued.

In Madrid, sports rag Marca was on hand to provide disoriented aficionados with a wholesome activity to take part in during this match deprived day. ‘La Carrera Marca’ (The Marca Race), which started in 2010, is an annual event organised by said paper which brings both sides of the capital city’s major footballing divide together: Real and Atlético. Supporters of either club (and even the odd gate crashing Getafe or Rayo Vallecano fan) tog out in their team’s colours and compete to finish a 10km circuit through the city on foot in the fastest time possible-with the Rojiblancos claiming the bragging rights last year.

As a budding journalist and a man with scarce all else to do, I decided to join the estimated 7,999 other runners at the Santiago Bernabeú to embark on this clever marketing ploy.

However, cynicism about marketing aside, this was a fantastically well-organised event and the camaraderie between both sets of supporters, los Merengues and los Cocheneros, was a wonderful thing to behold; with countless groups of friends showing up wearing opposing colours to each other. The only bad blood I was aware of was that racing through my own veins, as the side effects of a somewhat masochistic Friday night lingered on within me.

I foolishly decided that watching my beloved Ireland beat a nine man Estonia should be celebrated with the thirst quenching assistance of an overly-priced pint of Murphy’s Red or two, followed by a few more which in turn were washed down with several more for good luck. This did my already abject fitness no favours, but promises had been made and I was damned if I was going to let fellow signees (my friend Paul and cousin Conor) do it without me and grab all the attention. So I soldiered on, scrapping myself out of bed on the crisp Sunday morning and self pityingly making my way to the starting line, where Paul met me in similar condition. Conor in a confused state thought the number 9 was in fact the number 7 on his alarm clock and had to be rudely awoken by me thirty minutes before the starting gun to ensure his participation-a panicky taxi journey through the empty Madrid streets got him to the back of the queue just in time, but we wouldn’t see him until the other side.

Fortunately for us though, the organisers were a far less sadistic bunch than our subconscious minds, which was evidenced by the down hill nature of the course so reaching the finish line was an attainable goal even for leaden footed imposters like us.

The route took us from Real’s sacred ground, down the wide, pulsating artery that is the Paseo de Castellana, past los blancos cherished fountain in Plaza de Cibeles, then past los Indio’s own revered water feature, Neptuno, up through the heart of the city, Puerta del Sol for good measure, before finishing up at Atleti’s riverside arena, the Vicente Caldéron.

Although the first three finishers wore red and white, the overall outcome of the race saw the Real contingent bag the ‘Fastest Fans’ title. Despite my choice to kit out in red and white (I just thought it was a nicer t-shirt), I would like to clarify that my performance, while not breaking any records, did not negatively impact on the Rojiblanco median time: finishing with a respectable time of 42:40.

After the podiums had been cleared and the complementary bottles of powerade had been knocked back and tossed to the ground, the competitors began to hobble off in their separate directions, all united under the same feeling of accomplishment and good will for what was an enjoyable day out.

In under a fortnight’s time both two sets of supporters will gather once again at the mythical Bernabeú. However, this will be under far less harmonious circumstances, as the “real” Derbi Madrileño is contested.

Whereas the head to head in the fun run stakes is evenly matched, the footballing accolades significantly favour los Madridistas over the course of the last few years: in their last eight league encounters Real has managed seven wins and a draw over its lowly neighbour. And going on existing form this trend looks likely to repeat itself a week from Saturday, as Mourniho’s side’s seemingly unstoppable form shows no sign of waning, especially at home where not a single point has been dropped so far this season.

This doesn’t bode well for the already under fire Gregorio Manzano, who has not exactly had the rosiest of receptions at Atleti since his appointment from Sevilla back in June. On the back of a shockingly poor 3-2 lose at the hands of a ten men Getafe, the atmosphere within the decrepit walls of the Calderon must be bleak at the moment.

Before the acrimonious reuniting of this Sunday’s Carrera athletes, both clubs have “warm up” league games this weekend, with Real away to Valencia and Atletico at home to Levante.

Before then, blisters should have fully heeled, stiffness should have eased and muscle fatigue should be a thing of the past, but one thing remains certain, the temporary amnesty of the old city rivalry will be well and truly over.