Barcelona have won El Clasico but how long will they depend on Carles Puyol?
Among Guardiola’s many triumphs over Real Madrid, the recent win over Los Blancos was one of the most important one. Why? The reason is simple. Barcelona were trailing three points behind Madrid.
This was for the first time that Madrid were leading with three points and also having a match to play. Guardiola needed to win the match in order to cut the gap as Madrid still have an extra match to play. Hypothetically, Madrid are still three points above
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Barcelona-c38604 but psychologically Barcelona now have the edge over Madrid.
In the 1-3 win at Santiago Bernabeu, one man was crucial for the Spanish Champions – http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Carles-Puyol-c8331.
Barcelona’s captain gave out a phenomenal performance against Real Madrid. He started off in the centre back position but after conceding an early goal, Guardiola decided to change his position from centre back to right back.
The formation actually worked out for the Catalan Giants. This way, Guardiola’s men could put a stop to Ronaldo’s threat on the left flank. Alves, Puyol and Pique would easily outnumber http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ronaldo-c31734 who looked to be under some sort of pressure; hence, the two
crucial misses during the game.
Guardiola was able to devise the perfect plan to beat Madrid while Jose Mourinho couldn’t read the game too well. He made a few blunt decisions for which he had to pay for later in the game.
A few of those decisions included Mesut Ozil featuring in the team. The German midfielder is having a phenomenal season with Los Blancos but while playing in the attacking midfield role, he simply couldn’t win the ball as much as he does in other games.
Therefore, it was hard for Madrid to dominate midfield later in the game.
Even though Mourinho’s men were putting a lot of pressure on Barcelona, the Catalans kept playing their passing game and soon Madrid’s players ran out of break – especially Mesut Ozil. Therefore, Mourinho had to substitute Ozil with http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ricardo-c30950 Kaka even before
he could make an impact.
Carles Puyol easily put a stop to Ronaldo’s constant threat on the left wing. Later, Ronaldo had to move to the right wing and it simply showed that Puyol was making it hard for him to perform in his actual position.
Puyol’s performance came after a few weeks and the Spanish centre back has not been playing a lot of games for Barcelona lately. Last season, his place was taken by Eric Abidal has he picked up a serious knee injury.
This season, Puyol had a knee surgery and made a comeback. However, Josep Guardiola still has to make sure that Puyol doesn’t over stress his knee. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Gerard-c14664 Pique.
It is true that Puyol is one of the best defenders in Barcelona but for how long will he be able to play in the El Clasico’s? Even in the last season he was able to perform tremendously against Madrid but Guardiola should opt for Puyol’s replacement in the
coming season.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Gareth-Bale-c14422 might be on Barcelona’s radar. The Tottenham star can play as a left back while Eric Abidal and Gerard Pique can form an extremely amazing centre back partnership as Abidal is an experienced defender while Pique is going through the form of his
life.
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