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| Cover your eye Tito! Image from Marca.com |
The first half was really marked by three things.
1.Barça's unbelievable (but normal) ball control.
2. Madrid's unacceptable (but normal) dirty play.
3. The referee's inability to get his yellow card out of his pocket for the first 42 minutes.
Barça was by far the better team of the first half and demonstrated it with precision passing, good play, and a few nice shots on goal. It started in the 17th minute when Pique took a long shot from in front of the area. It was nowhere close, but nice to see the ambition from his right foot. Two minutes later, Alves took the ball down the right side and made a great pass across the middle to Messi. I'm still asking myself how Messi missed the target on that one, but his shot sailed wide to the left. Although Messi didn't score, Casillas definitely wet his shorts a little with that shot. Messi had another great shot in the 29th, when he took the ball across the front of the area with his classic move to the left side and left footed shot to the far post. He barely missed the far side of the goal and the wet spot on Casillas's shorts grew a little. The last shot for Barça in the first half came from Pedro in the 32nd. Great shot but Casillas was there to make the save.
Madrid came out dirty from the opening whistle and never let up. 9 minutes into the game Xabi Alonso slid into Busquets, flipping him completely over and the referee missed his first chance to take out his yellow card. Coentrao ran over Alexis in the 13th minute, taking him completely out of a play and the ref missed it again. Albiol should have seen yellow in the 23rd minute with a dirty tackle on Pedro but the ref let that one fly too. Finally, in the 43rd minute the referee punished Albiol for his continuous dirty play. After kicking Xavi's legs out from under him just in front of the area he received a yellow card. Arbeloa joined the party with a yellow card of his own two minutes later with a dangerous tackle on Busquets. I'm the first to admit that Busquets can act with the best of them, but this half he was getting beat up all over the pitch.
The second half played a little different than the first as Madrid was a little more into the game and actually made it exciting. Still a little dirty, and Albiol should have seen his second yellow card (and the dressing room) in the 5th minute after he took Busquets out once again. Luckily for Madrid the ref let that one go too. In the 9th minute the ref missed a clear penalty when Alexis beat Arbeloa but the Madrid defender wrapped a leg around Alexis from behind and took him down inside the area. Clear penalty, referee missed it. Things heated up in the 11th when Christiano Ronaldo got his head on a corner and put Madrid on the scoreboard first. 0-1. Bad defense from Barça, they never should have let Ronaldo get near the ball on a corner kick. Luckily, Barça struck back less than a minute later when Mascherano made a beautiful pass from midfield to a running Pedro. Coentrao was left behind and Pedro easily slid it past Casillas to tie the game. 1-1.
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| Pedro scores! Image from Mundodeportivo.com |
The referee finally saw something in the 24th when Sergio Ramos (and his cute new hair cut) took Andres Iniesta down in the area. A penalty was called and Leo Messi scored. 2-1.
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| Messi scores, everybody's happy! Image from Mundodeportivo.com |
Iniesta was absolutely brilliant tonight and showed it again in the 33rd minute with an incredible run and pass to Xavi, leaving him alone with Casillas from a spot that he couldn't miss. Xavi's goal made it 3-1. Barça almost got another one in the 39th when Messi got the ball in front of Madrid's goal with no defenders to stop him, but Casillas made a great save to keep Madrid in the game. Unfortunately for Barça, in the 41st minute Adriano passed the ball back to Valdes and he tried to be pretty with his feet when he should have cleared the ball away. Angel Di Maria was able to step around Valdes and steal the ball, tapping it into an open goal and making in a 3-2 game just a few minutes before the final whistle.
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| No Valdes, No, No, No! Image from Marca.com |
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| Show us the way Tito! Image from Mundodeportivo.com |
Overall it was a great game for Barça. 3-2 is a good score and the second half was exciting. Unfortunately, the error from Valdes at the end of the game will make the second leg of this Supercup a little more nerve wracking next week in Madrid!
Good game boys!
Barça 3-2 Madrid
ReplyDeleteVery good Barça although too much award for Madrid
The first round between the biggest teams of the world demostrated that the things have not changed very much respect last year.
Barça played very well, connecting passes arround the field and delighting us with beautiful actions of Iniesta, Busquets (for me was the MVP of the match), Xavi or Messi (who didn't find his best version).
Madrid played extremly defensive,and Barça was superior than Mourinho's coward system, but it couldn't happen that with only to shots on goal, they have taked a good result to Bernabeu.
Relating to Victor Valdes fail, I think that now, it isn't the moment to crticize him because he had save us a lot of times. Obviously he had to kick the ball outside or do something to not lose the control of the ball. But the error is part of the past, and now Barça has to know that if they play like yesterday and they are a little more concentrated in defense we will win the Supercopa easy.
Finally comment that Alexis has to be more connected to the match and demostrate his best level or Tello, Villa and Afellay can replace him. Congratulations to Adriano for his great match and come on Valdes we'll need your saves!
I have to agree with you Guillem. First of all, we saw yesterday that if Barça concentrate and play well we can beat anyone.
DeleteI also agree that normally Valdes does a great job. I think that in the last few years he has become the best goal keeper in the world. Errors like the one he made last night are not common. Unfortunately, last nights error was big. Giving two away goals to Madrid will make the return match in Bernabeu a little more difficult, but I have confidence that we will win!
About Alexis, I think we have to say that everyone has bad days. For me, Alexis is definitely the best player we have for the right forward position. Last night he didn't play well but I think he has shown in the past that he is very good and deserves to be the starter in that position. You are right however that if he has more bad games he could lose his position to Pedro or Villa but I don't think he will ever lose his position to Afellay or Tello.
Thanks for your comments Guillem! I appreciate everyone's opinions!
Good post Den! Great analysis and it made me laugh a few times too! -Chris
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