Barcelona vs. Real Madrid: UEFA Champions League – First half review (Part 2)
Following Ricardo Carvalho’s booking for Real Madrid in the 12th minute, due to his foul on Lionel Messi, the home side slowly established a foothold in the second-leg of their UEFA Champions league semi-final.
Already cruising with a two goal advantage on aggregate, Barcelona were much more comfortable and patient on the ball. Whereas in comparison, Real Madrid were more ambitious in their approach which meant that they also made more
mistakes with the ball at their feet in the final third of the field.
In the 17th minute, 80 thousand Barcelona fans were on their feet screaming at the referee as Lionel Messi was tackled by Lassana Diarra near the half way line. The Argentinean forward was leading Barcelona on a spectacular
counter attack but the former Portsmouth player, Diarra tracked back and then muscled the Barcelona striker off the ball in order to save his team’s defensive blushes.
In the 18th minute, Barcelona were on the front foot once again as Andres Iniesta tried to play a skillful one-two routine pass with David Villa. However, Diarra once again intercepted and tackled Iniesta http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/AS-Real-c38478 Madrid
broke away on a counter attack of their own. Diarra played the ball out-wide to Angel Di Maria who whipped in a well timed cross towards Gonzalo Higuain, but the Argentinean target-man was in an offside position when the ball was played to him.
In the 22nd minute, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Sergio-Busquets-c33048 inside the Real Madrid
box, but despite being unmarked and in plenty of space, Busquets failed to find the corner of the net with his header which was directed straight at Iker Casillas.
In the 32nd minute, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/David-Villa-c10629 but Casillas was on hand to deny him as he palmed
the ball away and then rushed out to claim it before any other player on the field.
In the 34th minute, David Villa’s attempt at goal was thwarted by Casillas as the Spanish national team captain kept his team in the running for the UEFA Champions League final spot almost single-handedly. Real Madrid
had a glorious opportunity to get their first goal of the match near the end of the first half as Ronaldo was played in by http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Xabi-Alonso-c37045. The Portuguese winger tried to release Angel Di Maria with an accurate through ball inside the Barcelona penalty area but
Victor Valdes rushed out and gathered the ball before Di Maria got his foot on it.
Thus, the first half eventually came to a close with the score line at nil all. Madrid started the match as the better side but Barcelona had most of the goal scoring chances in the first half. Lionel Messi was predictably Barcelona’s
most influential player, whereas Iniesta also contributed a great deal to their build-up play.
Tags: