To start it off, Jose Mourinho surprised many with his choice of the back four. Instead of the expected Lassana Diarra, Sergio Ramos, Pepe and Marcelo, the coach decided to field Hamit Altintop, Sergio Ramos, Ricardo Carvalho, and Fabio Coentrao. Now, I feel there were three problems with that. Altintop has not started a game yet this season and putting him against Barcelona is too much pressure for someone like him. Carvalho has just come back from a long injury and started the Clasico so there was a very big risk taken there. Lastly, Coentrao starting in my opinion was a mistake. It is arguable that he is better defensively that Marcelo but we needed that spark that Marcelo has given time and time again. Now, in Mourinho's defense, Carvalho had a decent game but Altintop and Coentrao didn't really impress me too much to be honest.
Next, the fact that Pepe has played in central midfield made him less valuable to us because he wasn't really able to be himself while playing there. It has been proven so many times that when you parter Pepe up with Sergio Ramos, our defense is solid. These types of changes should not be made for a Clasico. Gonzalo Higuain started on the right and that should have been Jose Callejon. Higuain is a great player but Callejon has the needed speed and ambition for a game like this.
Even though the game started off well with a great goal by Cristiano Ronaldo in the 11th minute, hopes were still low as people remembered Karim Benzema's early goal in the first Clasico this season which ended in a 3-1 loss. Real Madrid were playing on the counter attack and it seemed to be working quite well. Barcelona kept up the pressure and as Alexis Sanchez, Andres Iniesta and Leonel Messi tried everything they possibly could, they were not able to find the net during the first 45 minutes.
The second half changed everything as captain Carles Puyol scored a header only three minutes into the half and the pressure kept on coming as Real Madrid were forced to stay back with rare attacks coming to an end as soon as the Whites crossed the half-way line. To top it all off, Eric Abidal was able to score the winner in the 77th minute to end the game with yet another Clasico win at the Santiago Bernabeu as the Camp Nou now awaits the second leg which, in the mind of many Madristas, is a game that is as good as lost by now.
That negative thinking has not crept into the fans' mind for nothing. After seeing Real Madrid excel in so many games, coming up against Barcelona and winning shouldn't really be considered impossible. But it seems as though it almost is with Real Madrid not even able to score more than one goal against them as Barcelona keep firing at us with everything they've got. People may argue it is a fact of fear or cockiness. When it comes to fear, it's understandable but we need to keep in mind we are a great team and we've proven that in the past. Also, we CAN beat Barcelona, we just need to keep a steady 90 minutes against them and fire every weapon we have. We also need to avoid exposing our weaknesses to them because the Catalans know very well how to work off the opponents mistakes.
Real Madrid NEED to find ways to beat the Catalans and it should be found soon before we lose more cups due to the fact that we simply cannot beat them.
Worst Real Madrid Player: Pepe
Best Real Madrid Player: Cristiano Ronaldo
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