Real Madrid v. Barcelona- 2nd half (full time) report – UEFA Champions League Semifinal
The first half was something of a disappointment in general, considering the expectations from the game to be filled with shots and goals. However, the second half did not disappoint in this regard.
A brace from Lionel Messi sealed the match for Barcelona. A red card for http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Pepe-c29670 and Jose Mourinho from the sidelines did not help Madrid’s cause.
The second half started at a much better pace in the European El Clasico. Jose Mourinho made one change at the break, Emmanuel Adebayor sent in the fray for http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Mesut-Özil-c25237. It was undoubtedly a substitution posed to surge Real Madrid’s attack from their boss.
Barcelona was most of the attacking plays in the first half and once again they were the ones on the offensive front first. Lionel Messi found some rare space ahead of him and made a brisk run. He had Villa on his left and played a neat one-two with the
Spanish international before taking a shot which was saved remarkably by Casillas.
Ronaldo had a great chance to score moments later. The No. 7 from Madrid kept running for a long ball and following confusion between Carlos Puyol and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Javier-Mascherano-c18071, the ball ended up free and Ronaldo latched onto it. He was forced to the bye-line by
Victor Valdes so he had to shoot from a narrow angle and missed.
The decisive moment of the game came when Real Madrid’s defensive midfielder, Pepe, was given a straight red card at the hour mark. The Portuguese was in the opposition’s half and jumped high to get the ball but on his way back, he went with his studs up
into Daniel Alves’ calf.
The red card enraged the Los Blancos, the home fans and understandably the manager, Jose Mourinho. Carlos Puyol tried to explain the tackle to Mourinho but he was not listening to Puyol’s reasoning and gave the referee a sarcastic thumbs-up. As if the red
card was not enough, Mourinho was also sent off from the sidelines for this gesture.
The match that was built up to be the match of the century was in danger of being ruined by a bad decision by the referee and some theatrical dives from players. Replays clearly showed that it was a tackle worthy of a yellow at worse. Alves was taken off
the pitch on a stretcher and unsurprisingly he came back on the field, fit as an ox in a matter of seconds.
Barcelona with 11 mean is hard to handle for any team and Madrid had to handle the Spanish champions with 10 men for a good 30 minutes of the game. Nevertheless, the intensity of the game did not dip in any manner and Barcelona had a great chance to get
the first goal.
It was Xavi who created the chance from a threaded through ball from the centre of the field. Messi received the ball well and took his shot which was saved excellently by the Madrid skipper, Casillas. The little genius was not to be denied for too long
though.
Ibrahim Affelay, the Dutch forward, who had come on few minutes earlier, made a darting run down the right hand side. The young midfielder got close to the bye-line and sent in a quick low cross.
Messi had made a perfectly timed run and deflected the ball past Iker Casillas for his 51st goal of the season. This was a major shock for Real Madrid which was trying to come to terms with the red card they received a few minutes earlier.
Barcelona had started to look much more comfortable after the goal while Madrid looked in a state of panic. Ronaldo tried to create some individual chances but failed to get far with them while http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Emmanuel-Adebayor-c12526 seemed to be a mere pedestrian upfront.
Barcelona’s typical passing game was coming into play and Madrid started to work on damage control, keeping in mind that the 2nd leg of the semifinal is yet to come next week.
However, Barcelona was not quite done with just one away goal. The El Clasico could not have ended with a classic goal from http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Lionel-Messi-c22296.
Despite having all the attention of Madrid’s defense, the little Argentine dynamite managed to produce an absolute beauty. Messi got the ball just outside the box, danced past Diarra and Albiol while holding on to the ball to beat the rushing http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Sergio-Ramos-c33096
and used his right foot to slide it past http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Iker-Casillas-c16815.
With a 2-0 win at the Bernabeu, the tie certainly seems to be in the bag for http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Barcelona-c38605 and it would require a herculean effort from Madrid to turn it around at Camp Nou next week in the return leg.
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