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| Barcelona vs Real Madrid Score |
The drama did not quite match the exotic wonders on display in the same fixture last November, when Barcelona won 5-0, but Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid derived some measure of satisfaction from this committed performance.
It had looked, for much of a riveting second half, as if Mourinho would suffer a second consecutive home league defeat after lasting nine years without one, but Cristiano Ronaldo’s penalty eight minutes from time helped cancel out Lionel Messi’s earlier success from the spot.
By their soaring rendition of Nessun Dorma, Real Madrid’s fans lit the smouldering tensions that only a clásico could create. It was an apt choice of anthem, the portentous strains of Puccini giving rich expression to a sequence of games that has had all Spain in its thrall.
The game began a sporting event without parallel, where four helpings of football’s richest rivalry had to be digested in 17 days.
But every purist is a glutton where these two clubs are concerned. Fabio Capello was moved to turn up, as if the gulf between the English and Spanish elites needed stressing further. This spectacle would, he seemed to recognise, determine not just the outcome of La Liga’s season but the Champions League’s, too.
The one grievance was that this duel could not have been saved for a grand European final, its rightful stage. The sheer fever of local anticipation also hamstrung these players at first.
Barcelona stayed truer to type, shifting laterally across the midfield like a red-and-blue sidewinder, while Real adopted a high-risk, defend-deep strategy. Ronaldo was the first to fashion a shot of any value, firing straight at Victor Valdes’s midriff.
Vales, uncharacteristically, was proving Barca’s weak link, misjudging when he attempted to keep out an effort from Karim Benzema and then ambitiously punching a corner clear. Ronaldo, enticed by the loose ball, rose high but nudged his header wide.
Real’s consolation, in the face such a buffeting in possession by their old enemies, was that they remained menacing on the counter-attack. Ronaldo was busy ruffling Gerard Pique on the edge of the box, before finding himself thwarted by Adriano.
There were less edifying aspects of Barca’s play: Sergio Busquets went down as if picked off by a rifle as he cynically sought to bring a second yellow card for Marcelo. But they were eclipsed by some magical trickery, not least when two of the neatest one-twos involving Messi — the first with Andres Iniesta, the second with David Villa — teed up the Argentine to test Iker Casillas.
It was from set plays that Real looked increasingly dangerous, and Adriano again needed to be alert to clear Ronaldo’s snap shot off the line. Real, however, resorted to some more roughhouse tactics to contain Barcelona, and when David Villa drifted goalside of Raul Albiol he was promptly bundled down in a heap.
Cue a red card for Albiol, and a penalty for Messi. With trademark precision, the striker lofted the ball beyond the clutches of Casillas to bring him one closer to a barely credible half-century of goals for the season.
Real could not have dared hope they would exact revenge in so similar a manner, but when Dani Alves hauled down Marcelo in the box the second penalty was instantly awarded. On replays, the decision looked harsh on the Brazilian right-back. Not that Mourinho cared a hoot.
Team details
Real Madrid: Casillas, Ramos, Marcelo, Albiol, Carvalho, Pepe, Khedira, Xabi Alonso, Di Maria, Ronaldo, Benzema.
Subs: Dudek, Arbeloa, Garay, Kaka, Adebayor, Higuain, Özil.
Barcelona: Valdés, Alves, Adriano, Piqué, Puyol, Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta, Pedro, Messi, Villa.
Subs: Pinto, Maxwell, Milito, Afellay, Thiago, Fontas, Keita.
Sources: http://www.telegraph.co.uk
