How Barcelona beat Real Madrid in their own “dirty” game
The Catalan Giants faced their arch nemesis for the fourth time this season. The Catalans won the first-leg of the Spanish La Liga with a five-goal margin. The second fixture between the two teams ended in a 1-1 draw as Santiago Bernabeu could not see any
of the teams taking all three points. The third El Clasico was staged in http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Cristiano-Ronaldo-c9629 scored a fabulous header.
On Thursday, Barcelona faced Real Madrid for the fourth time this season. The match was supposed to be a close encounter between the two clubs. Jose Mourinho, like always, had something to say about the fixture. The Portuguese coach spoke about Josep Guardiola
and how the referees often side with his team.
The pre-match press conference saw the http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Barcelona-c38605 coach getting angry at Jose Mourinho. The Catalan boss stated that Jose Mourinho is great at “war of words.” He said that he does not want to argue with Mourinho while sitting in a press room and he would
rather do the talking on the pitch.
As the match kicked off, the fans saw a totally changed Barcelona side. Backed by only a single 5-0 win over Real Madrid from a total of three games during the season, Josep Guardiola showed great composure and relatively different defensive tactics.
Josep Guardiola showed how his side can show a totally different style-of-play. With not even a single left-back available and Andres Iniesta also injured for the fixture, Guardiola had to change his plans.
Unlike the Copa del Rey final, the Barcelona number one goalkeeper Victor Valdes performed his role in between the two poles, rather than Jose Manuel http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Pinto-c30032. The Brazilian full-back Daniel Alves played in his favourite right-back position.
With Eric Abidal, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Maxwell-c25051 and Adriano all ruled out because of their respective injuries, Josep Guardiola had to play his captain Carles Puyol in the left-back role. With wingers like Angel Di Maria and Cristiano Ronaldo playing for Real Madrid, Josep Guardiola
had no option but to put full-backs who could hold these players down.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Javier-Mascherano-c18071 and Gerard Pique who performed their roles in the centre-back position. Javier Mascherano could easily be trusted in
the centre-back role, especially after playing there twice after the hamstring injury picked up by Carles Puyol.
In the holding midfield position, Josep Guardiola opted for his favourite player – http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Sergio-Busquets-c33048. The young Spaniard featured in the centre-back role during Carles Puyol’s absence; however, this time Guardiola took no chances in the midfield and played
his first choice holding midfielder.
With Andres Iniesta suffering from a calf injury, Guardiola opted for his favourite substitute player – http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Seydou-Keita-c33177. The former Sevilla midfielder replaced Andres Iniesta in the left midfield position and was accompanied by the first-choice centre-midfielder
Xavi Hernandez. The three man midfield consisted of Xavi, Busquets and Keita. The centre forward http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Lionel-Messi-c22296 often fell behind to help his team mates outnumber Real Madrid’s three-man midfield.
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