The first El Clasico of 2010-11 season was played on Monday, when Barcelona hosted the league leaders Real Madrid at Camp Nou.
Barcelona had dominated their archrivals, in the last two seasons, under Pep Guardiola. However, with the advent of Jose Mourinho as the manager of Real Madrid, the football pundits had speculated the outcome differently. But, Guardiola came out on top at
the end of the match, which saw his side completely dominating the Los Blancos.
Many pundits termed it as a match between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Both the former Ballon d’Or and FIFA World Player of the Year awards winners were representing the attack of their sides. However, Messi had never scored a goal against a side
managed by Mourinho, while Ronaldo had never scored against Barcelona. In the end, these statistics did not change, as both the players remained scoreless in the match, but Messi was the clear winner of the battle between the two greats of football.
The only statistics that mattered on the night was that Guardiola has never dropped a point in an El Classico match. The coach of Barcelona did not look like dropping any points in this match either, as he showed a total tactical superiority over Jose Mourinho.
The Catalans dominated the game in the midfield, with Lionel Messi also playing in the centre of the park for most of the time, keeping two-third of the possession in the match. Every single Catalan player made himself useful in the match, while all the
Real Madrid players choked.
The Catalans won the match by a comfortable margin of 5-0, two of which came in the opening 45 minutes and three later on. Barcelona dominated the game from the beginning, taking a lead in only 10 minutes. Andres Iniesta was the supplier to Xavi, who controlled
the ball and chipped over the head of Iker Casillas. Within next eight minutes, Barcelona doubled their lead, as Pedro scored from an easy position into an open goal. David Villa was the supplier who gave a cross which deflected from the diving goalkeeper
before finding its way into the feet of Pedro.
In the second half, David Villa showed his amazing finishing touch. Previously in the match, Villa was lurking free in the area but was not supplied by Lionel Messi, making the Spanish striker a little angry. However, Messi supplied two incredible through
balls to Villa who showed his great composure in front of goal, putting the ball into Real Madrid’s net. The last goal was scored by Jeffren Suarez, who came as a substitute and was provided by another substitute Bojan Krkic.
There could have been more goals for Barcelona, as they missed some of their chances. First, Lionel Messi showed the world that what Ronaldo can do, he can do even better. In the opening ten minutes of the match, Messi replicated one of the recent strikes
from Ronaldo, when the Portuguese forward chipped the ball over the head of Casillas in an international friendly against Spain. Messi did even better, but as Ronaldo was denied by one of his team-mates, Messi was kept out by the post. Also, Bojan had a chance
as soon as he came as a substitute, but he slipped under pressure, missing an open opportunity.
It was the midfield where Real Madrid suffered total humiliation. At one point, it seemed that Barcelona players are making fun of their archrivals, especially when they were using the back-heel passes more than often. Therefore, as the Catalans were enjoying
the outing, Los Blancos really suffered a mighty blow to their title challenge. Now, Barcelona goes on top of the table, two points above Real Madrid, and in the process they have annihilated the integrity and pride of Madrid players.
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