El Clasico - Review

So, it finally happened ! Barcelona took on Real Madrid at Camp Nou and Zidane faced Barcelona for the first time as a manager for the Galacticos !

It was indeed a great match to watch as it has been everytime. Barcelona being a stronger team this season was expected to win the match but Real Madrid were in no mood to just sit and watch them play. Although Barcelona was playing at top of their game but Real Madrid stood up rock solid in terms of defence but Barcelona are the team which never stops if they have set up a attack. Let’s see what the stats speak !

Barcelona dominated the possession sector

As far as possession is concerned, Barcelona is a team which never compromises with its possession stats and the same happened in the El Clasico. Barcelona had a share of 61% share in possession leaving only 39% for Real Madrid. And it was quite easy to see that Barcelona had the ball most of the times. Barcelona were making moves more frequently as compared to Real Madrid. Sometimes it happens that  a team keeps focusing on possession and finds it difficult to make entry in the opposition territory and this El Clasico was nothing different . Barcelona dominated in terms of possession but Real Madrid as usual focused on counter attack and therefore were successful in making two successful attacks after so many failed attcks.

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Real Madrid and Barcelona were equally firing the force

Talking about shots, both Real Madrid and Barcelona made 14 attempts. This shows how desperately both of the teams wanted the goals. And why not ? this is one of the biggest matches around the world and world keeps it in my mind for months and talk about it for years. Mostly the attacks were developed by the magician Messi for the Barcelona side. Whereas Real Madrid had no particular playmaker who could be held responsible. Benzema, Marcelo, Cristiano Ronaldo, Bale were the players who worked for the offense of the team.

And talking about shots on target, Real Madrid displayed a better rate of accuracy as compared to Barcelona. Real Madrid had 7 shots on target whereas Barcelona just had 4 shots on target. Although one free kick by Cristiano Ronaldo deflected out due to the woodwork otherwise it could have been a beautiful free kick goal.

 Neymar also took a free kick that could have been a problem for Real Madrid but Keylor Navas made a stunning save and saved the day for Real Madrid.

Corners

In total, Real Madrid got 3 corners and Barcelona on the other side got 4 corners. Out of which one corner was converted by Pique with a strong header. That was the moment when it seemed that the match is no longer in control of Real Madrid as Real Madrid at that time were not able to create a single attempt on goal and after Pique scored that goal Barcelona were looking more confident as their game was apparently looking open and worthy of much lethal attacks ahead. But after that goal, Real Madrid were looking much stronger at defence as they marked opponents much tightly, and were flexible enough to lunge for the ball and were successful in doing so.

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Fouls

Of course, this stat report can’t be ignored when we’re discussing about  El Clasico. Because this is more than just a match. Players do whatever they can to stop each other and while doing this, they lose their temper and act like warriors instead of football players.

While looking towards the fouls, Barcelona committed 16 fouls and Real Madrid committed 15 fouls making the match a bit nasty one. Some fouls were so critical in terms of position that they could have changed the complexion of the game.

One of the fouls which was appealed by Lionel Messi but was not awarded was the one when Sergio Ramos tried to take away the ball from Messi and while doing that Ramos’s leg tucked up Messi’s shin and Messi was submitted to the ground and appealed and that seemed a foul too by normally seeing, but when the referee took a close look, Ramos had made a contact the ball first changing the direction of the motion of the ball  and therefore forgiven to be given a freekick against Real Madrid. It was quite close to the penalty area, so even if it would not have been a penalty, Barcelona could have at least got a free kick just outside the box which could have been proven  costly to Real Madrid.

Offside

Offside booked for both Real Madrid and Barcelona were the same that is 3 for both.

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The Turning Point

The score was levelled by Karim Benzema by a semi bicycle kick which was beautifully put in leaving the keeper stunned and the pressure was now equal on both of the teams. Karim Benzema was then substituted by Jese Rodriguez and Jese was continuously trying to make moves from the time he entered the field and finally when Jese, Bale and Ronaldo combined to score a winner against Barcelona.

The goal by Cristiano Ronaldo was beautifully tucked in as he trapped the ball on his chest took a minute dash and boom between the legs of Bravo. And Ronaldo with his trademark celebration calming down Barca fans and taking the match away with them.

This was quite an interesting match but it did not affect Barcelona’s position on the league table. The league is still with Barcelona and no one can take away from them the spirit and confidence of winning the league.