Game Blog: El Clasico

By: Dancy | December 14th, 2008

Sergio Ramos, the boy of many nicknames, has just picked up a new one: “EL ANTIMESSI”. LOL!

So says yesterday’s Marca cover. And today’s gameday Marca cover screams: “MISION IMPOSIBLE?” Sergio’s on both covers, which is perhaps Marca’s way of suggesting that, win or lose, the outcome will be decided by the titanic clash between Madrid’s best defender vs Barca’s best attacker.

A week ago, I shuddered at the thought of Real Madrid having to go into Camp Nou to face the high-flying, high-scoring Barca. Seemingly invincible, the stories coming out of Catalonia painted the picture of a team running amok, scoring at will, and turning one respected La Liga team after another into nothing more than shooting practice, beating Sevilla 3-0 and Valencia 4-0. Many laughed at the thought of this game being a classic at all and predicted 5-0 for the slaughter of los Merengues. Hell, even Real Madrid’s own coach at the time said it was “impossible” to win – right? How can this be anything but mission impossible???

For this game could not be showcasing two teams more on the opposite ends of each other. Barca is top of the table and has won every single game in recent memory in style. They’re the top scoring team in all of Europe. Hell, they even had the luxury of resting all first-teamers during the midweek Champions League game, coming into this one completely fresh.

Meanwhile, Real Madrid is limping along, with currently 9 players out for various injuries, having suffered 20 serious injures in total, and slipping to 5th in the table, 9 points behind Barca. They’ve leaked in more goals than anyone else in the top half of the league. And every single first-teamer played in the Wednesday Champions League game vs Zenit. Oh, and if you’re looking for criticism, pressure, drama, and upheaval, look no further, because this is only new coach Juande Ramos’ second game on the job. Welcome to life as a Real Madrid fan!

But AS hit back by throwing all that out the window. We don’t say “impossible” here at Real Madrid – and if you do, you get fired.

AS invoked the spirit of the Spanish tennis team that went to Argentina for the Davis Cup final – sans world #1 Rafa Nadal. The premise is mind-boggling. If you just think about it – how can you take away such a talent – and still go on to win?

But they did win. And we can too. In a game of such epic proportions, the best players rise to the top. Madrid won’t stay down in the dumps for long – our players won’t let it. Iker. Sergio. Raul. Guti. You can take Van Nistelrooy away but we are still lucky to be left with such talent. Will we find our redemption today? Will this become – the turning point of the season?

And look – Juande Ramos is nothing but creative! The biggest threat from Barca is Messi, so what do we do? Slide Sergio over to left-back. The better to contest – no, the only one, capable of contesting – the world’s #2! AND Dani Alves motoring from RB! How did AS describe it? “Real Madrid needs to cover its weaknesses. Only the most agile [defender] can hope to check Messi . . all others, pray.”

Well, then – let’s PLAY!!!!!!

Our lineup – wow, Sneijder’s back so quick? Oh no – are we rushing him?

Salgado – Metz – Canna – Sergio
Gago – Guti – Sneijder – Drenthe
Higuain – Raul

2:00 They are attacking the right flank repeatedly, intent on finding Salgado out. I didn’t think we’ll be under fire already! My heart sinks. Yes, they’re gonna dominate possession. And by dominate, I mean – DO-MIN-ATE. Real Madrid hasn’t even had a meaningful whiff of the ball. Higuain is backing up into our own half to play DEFENSE! Ack! And we are already fouling – a heavy whack to Messi’s ankles by Guti. Thank God there’s no card – yet.

5:30 SHIT! Look at Messi!! Turns Sergio inside out and already a shot on goal, as Iker dives to save it. If they had another shirt inside the box to pick up the loose change like Raul did in the Zenit game, we would’ve been down 1 already. This Barca team is scary stuff! One Sergio’s not gonna be enough on the left wing – we need TWO!

11:30 This is nuts. We’re having NO possession at all. No matter what we do, the ball just ends up at Barca’s feet. How???? How can they play like they have it velcroed to their boots? Here we are, slip-sliding on the wet grass, passes not always connecting – but their red-and-blue shirts are everywhere, everywhere the ball needs to go! We defend and they get a corner. They mess up the corner and we punt the ball far, far away but Puyol or Marquez picks it up on their backline anyway. We have no one to even counter-attack, because we are being forced to sit all 11 behind the ball. When Guti plays a pass that doesn’t have enough weight on it and it gets stolen – I wanna scream: Guti, run your team! Run your team, pleeeease!!! We’re being slaughtered here! LOL, look at Juande with his eyebrows burrowed in worry. So cute, and such a change from poster-board Schuster!

18:00 FIRST TIME we actually get the ball in our own attacking half! OMG, we’re supposed to attack? You mean – this isn’t some elaborate defensive exercise from hell?

And then, a few seconds later – Guti with his very first killer throughball!!! WAAAAA!!!!!! He finds Raul perfectly, releases him from the shackles of his defenders. Oh my God, that exquisite arrow of the ball simply takes your breath away, and reminds you that, if allowed to play, we are still very very good . . except, of course, Raul was offside. By miles. Sigh.

21:00 Yellow on Metzelder.

25:00 DRENTHE!!!! OMG, you finally beat Alves! Go, Go, GOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! You’re 1v1 with the keeper – SHOOOOOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WTF??????

I canna – I cannot believe this. Any credible striker – any – would’ve buried that one. Their keeper had come miles off his line, in a desperate attempt to stymie our runaway counter-attack – Raul with an amazing diagonal ball that found Drenthe leaping over the sliding Alves into paradise, into an open field with the Barcelona goal totally alone and defenseless and gaping. Any striker at all – Pipita, Raul, maybe even Saviola – would’ve tapped it around the keeper before burying it in the back of the net! A chance like that, may only come once in a lifetime.

But Drenthe??? What does he do? He gets scared and kicked it directly AT the goalkeeper!

Whaaaaat . . . imagine what Robben would’ve done? Remember his sterling goal against Zenit that got voted #1 of all the CL group stages by ESPN? This would’ve been even better. This would’ve opened up our goal-scoring account on Barca’s home turf, going up 1-0, and driving their fans crazy mad. This would’ve given us a confidence like no other. This would’ve shut up all the critics.

Because right now? I have zero confidence. ZERO.

27:45 SHIT. Yellow on Sergio for tackling the ball away – but going through Messi’s legs to do it. Damnit, Sergio – you have to save those kinds of tackles for when the boy gets inside the box, when it becomes dangerous!!!! NOT here! NOT in the 27th min! Ugh . . I deeply fear that before the game is over, we will be reduced to 10 men . . and next up is Valencia!!

29:40 Possession so far: 71% Barca, 29% Real – and I’m pretty sure 50% of that 29% is simply trying to defend. Wonderful.

35:30 Who is this coming on? #35 . . ? Oh no. Sneijder. He’s walking off like he’s either reinjured something . . or . . well, he must’ve reinjured something. He looks terribly worried. But why not bring on VDV? Who is this Palanca kid?? Are we so thread-bare on the bench that we’re bringing on kids I’ve never even heard of before? Oh no.

40:00 Yellow on Marquez for trampling over Higuain, but Guti and Raul are not happy, pointing out that play should’ve continued as Real was running the other way. Great, now our chance to spring a surprise is over.

41:00 Yellow on Drenthe! Damnit! He switched onto Messi to protect Sergio from his yellow, and now again for a minor tackle away from any threatening play, Drenthe is booked. Now who becomes the Anti-Messi??

45:00 “Real Madrid halfway done!” Phil says cheerfully as the whistle blows for halftime. What do you mean, halfway done?? I feel like Barca is the only team playing today, and Real Madrid’s job is simply to contain them and hope for a 0-0 draw? That is NOT the way we play! WTF???? I really, really hate Barca. Watching Puyol simply stroll through a wide open park from his central back position all the way up to about 30 yards from our own goal is not OK. It’s not fun. I realize we have no other choice, given our patched-up lineup here, but . . well, should we simply take pride in saying we survived this defensive test, and say goodnight if we do get the 0-0 draw? Is that the best we can do here? *sigh*

I know we want to play real football . . I know we were built for that, that its in our genes. But, well . . just seeing the dirt on Iker’s elbow, the mud caked all over Salgado’s shorts . . it’s just not possible today. It’s fucking like watching Spain play. And it’s JUST NOT ANY FUN!

Second Half

47:00 YAY IKER!!!!!!!! Oh, thank God for you! You’ve finally decided to return to form in the one game that counts, eh? Bravo!!! Damn, our defense is actually pretty good today, no?

49:00 Higuain ALMOST!!!!!! Damn Puyol pressuring him! Haha, Valdes lifts him up to his feet, as Puyol thanks his lucky stars.

56:00 Higuain AGAIN! Except – what happened?? He gets up VERY angry, and throws up his hands and twirls around in a fit when the ref denies him a foul! C’mon, ref – Pipita’s a big boy, I promise you he’s NOT the diving type! AND the replay shows Marquez bodily coming out to throw him off the ball! WTF????

64:00 Ok, you know what? I’m much, much calmer now. All that battle cry and we need to play good football and not negative football has gone out the window. Damn, we’re doing a GREAT job defending! Against Sevilla they started scoring, what, at the 20th minute? At Valencia, guess when they opened up their scoring account? Yep, the 20th minute. But here they are not even close. Two or three scary strikes, sure – but Iker’s been all over them – tremendous!!! And hell, even Metzelder and Salgado are looking spiffy! Drenthe’s doing better against Alves too. Sergio’s watching Messi like a hawk. Raul and Higuain are always tracking back to help defend. Hell, if it ended like this, 0-0? I will consider that almost like a victory!

67:00 HUGE SCARE inside the box! I have no idea what’s going on, but the ball stays near the vicinity for way too long, someone heads it back towards goal, a Barca player pounces on it – and then Iker is punching it out, except he’s falling over the Barca player – ACK! Until Salgado finally hoofs it clear! PHEW! The replay shows how top form Iker is in today. The corner from Xavi so nearly finds Puyol’s head, the captain already turning his head towards goal – but for Iker to punch it out!!!!! YAY!!!!! Nearly punches Puyol square in the face too! Then the ball is pinged around and back somehow, and Iker must punch it out again – except he falls over!!! Ohmygod! Seconds later, Messi has picked up the spoils, and takes a whack that goes so narrowly wide. Getting up from the wet grass this time – Iker looks enormously relieved, tugging on his black turtleneck to be able to breathe better. GOOD JOB, IKER!!!! Keep it up! I’d almost forgotten how good you are! ^^

68:00 OH FUCK. PENALTY????? SALGADO YELLOW?!

Damnit damnit damnit!!! Sergio Busquets’s laughing and giving a high five to a teammate for the reward! The ball flying into the box and Salgado roughens him up, throws the youngster tumbling to the ground, as the ball bombs in to no one in particular, and thumps out of bounds. Goddamnit, I hate penalties. So you can’t score the right way, can you, Barca? You need a penalty to score?

Here comes Eto’o, stepping up to the plate. Iker, so good all game long, faces his ultimate test. Salgado, meanwhile, is still protesting his innocence along the sidelines, as Canna laughs. I have the TV on pause right now, and I so, so want to keep it on pause, forever, to never play it so I would never have to watch this penalty being taken. Please, Iker, please – do you have your magic still? Can you save us?

OHMYFUCKINGGOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OH OH OH SAN IKER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU ARE MY HERO!!!!!!!!!!! JESUS CHRIST, YOU ARE GOOD!!!!!!!! NO, NO – GREAT!!!! WHAT WOULD WE DO WITHOUT YOU???

Heh, and to all those rumors that Juande would sit him in favor of Dudek? GTFO!

And he doesn’t just save it. He palms it out wide, so that Eto’o can’t retrieve it, so that Drenthe can flag it down and keep it away from giving them a second chance. Oh my beautiful God! Iker, my baby – you are Real’s hero. You are man of the match, for sure. Even if the whole team gets injured, so long as we have you . . !

Haha, Eto’o!!!! Tried to get revenge on your former team, did you? NOT! LOLOLOL!!!!!!!!! *sticks out tongue*

Oh my – my heart’s still pounding!!!! This should give us a HUGE boost! Go chase the ball, boys! Run run run! We’ve played stellar defense for nearly 70 minutes, its time to play some FUTBOL!!!!

70:50 Phil: “Half the starting lineup either on the shelf or in the hospital. Real Madrid, bubbled up and rubber-banded, somehow they’re holding it together.”
Ray: “Well – ”

And then I don’t even hear the rest because Messi has the ball, Messi has now thundered into top of the box, Messi gives it to Eto’o who has room to turn and SHOOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IKER AGAIN WITH THE SAVE! OMG, MESSI! And Iker gets up to deny him TOO!!!!!!!!! AND somehow slams it off Messi so it’s not a corner! Someone get this man a trophy! “Tell me this kid’s not the best in the world!” Ray roars while jumping out of his seat.

71:45 Guti is pulled for . . Javi Garcia?? Damn. Poor Guti, not able to run his stuff today – he does not look happy.

74:00 Iker??? OH, SALGADO! Thank God for you! Too scary! A long ball punted forward for Henry into the right corner, Iker races out when he sees Salgado can’t get there in time, trying to play as a 5th defender! Just doing everything today! He does well too, using his body to shield Henry away from the ball to allow it to go out – except he falls down in the tangle and the ball STAYS IN!!! OMFG! Then in the next second Salgado is sliding in resolutely to tackle that ball OUT, where it belongs! HURRAY!!!!!!!!!! LOL, Salgado’s socks now match his shorts in being totally gray instead of white and covered with dirt and mud. Been really throwing his weight around today!

76:00 Higuain is pulled for VDV. Well, our goal-scoring chances have just diminished by 2/3. Its all Raul now. I will settle for the 0-0 then, happily.

77:00 Palanca WITH A CHANCE! OMG, wouldn’t it be the most unlikely thing in the world for the youngster to get a goal in Camp Nou in his very first start?? Beautiful 1-2 with Raul, who releases him perfectly – and when Palanca shots, my heart’s in my throat, thinking, thinking – this could be IT! But NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! That Valdes has to save it again! Uses his body to deflect the ball, so it flies up high into the air . . never to be seen again.

78:00 Sergio with a run!!!! Go, Sergio, GOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! Damnit, FOULED?! And then the cameras don’t show us who fouled him or what happened?? Hmmph!

Too much is happening! Barca keeps on coming, and now every ball is even more dangerous, because the difference in the teams is starting to tell. They are still as fresh as daisies, while we are starting to tire, our midweek game against Zenit for 90 minutes while they were sitting back eating popcorn rearing its ugly head. Dani Alves – how many times have you honestly seen him defend?? Because he doesn’t have to! Jesus, can you remember the glory days when we had the luxury of fielding Sergio up the flank, letting him run up and down as he pleases to open up the middle and feed the forwards for their runs? Well, that is what Alves is having fun with now, and Sergio must sit back and defend against him! AND deflect his shot painfully with his cheek/shoulder/arm! UGH!

82:00 HOLY FUCK! BARCA HAS SCORED. 0-1.

And the replay shows it was Sergio who Puyol outjumped. Gee, I wonder why? Sergio normally does so well in the air – when have you seen him being outjumped? Yet, here . . Puyol looks like a jackrabbit compared to him. *sighhhhh*

Our boys are tired. There is no way around that. And it hurts so much, to finally see the inevitable. They had to score. They had to, see. Its just not physically possible, for our starters to play 90 minutes in midweek, and then expect us to be top-notch coming in here. We were brave, though. We held them scoreless for 82 fucking minutes; 82 wet, tough, endless-chasing-and-deflecting-and-defending-together minutes.

But now the floodgate’s loose. Puyol outjumps Sergio to the ball, heads it in Eto’o’s direction, and Eto’o has the easiest job of all tapping it into the net. Hell, he doesn’t even get enough force to punt it directly into the back of the net, as Palanca desperately tries to run in and scoop it up before anyone notices. Haha – good try, Miguel! But I think, yeah, they’ve noticed. It’s a goal. Puyol dives happily onto the wet turf. Eto’o storms out of the box and sweeps along the sidelines with his shirt off, screaming and yelling to the gods.

And Iker. Oh my god, Iker. His face is so sad, so disappointed . . its not your fault, bb! Its our collective responsibility. Sergio failed you too. Whoever was guarding Eto’o failed you too. You thought Puyol would head it home but instead he heads it to Eto’o. Well . . let’s play on. Let’s see what happens next.

86:00 Good lord: 73% Barca, 27% Real. Um . . no comment.

89:00 Yellow on Iker? Good grief, ref, why? Just because he came out to have a few words with you, in defense of Gago?

90:00+0:45 Messi scores, on a lightening-fast counter-attack by Barca. And Canna leaps into the net to try to save it from going in! Is he ok???? Did he hit his head on the post?! Ohmygod, Canna, I LOVE YOU for trying! Its not your fault your legs weren’t quick enough to stop them! 0-2, and, well – whatever. I don’t care anymore. The score can be run up by them all they want, in my mind it will always stay at 0-1. We are NOT worse than them by 2 goals. 1 goal, ok. You get possession like that, 73%, I’ll hand that to you. But we played our hearts out today, and 0-1 down to Barca on the road is no shame. Let’s just play these last few seconds out, go home, and take a nice hot shower. Valencia next week should be much easier – and then its Christmas break!!!

What’s that song the fans are singing in the end?

Man of the Match
Iker Casillas x 4394873049384093489382.

Post-game thoughts
This was a bitter defeat. It really, really hurts. And I know I shouldn’t even be disappointed, since everybody was predicting Madrid to not only lose, but lose horribly. What were the predictions: 0-4? 0-5? The second I saw the match open and Barca refuse to lose the ball I knew we would be in for a hell of a fight. Then, when we finally got our chance to attack – with 18+ minutes gone by??? Guti walking off shaking his head? Putting on youth teamer Palanca for never-healed Sneijder?

But when Iker began saving all those insane balls – man, that really gave me heart. And when the backline held strong and dug deep and kept defending, defending, and defending some more, as if we weren’t the worst defensive record in most of the league? It gave me even more hope. With such newfound resolve and unity, I knew that if we could walk out of there with a 0-0 draw, that would’ve been a true metaphoric victory for us. I mean, just a week ago we let Sevilla score 4 goals in the Bernabeu!! And here we were, defending with a clean sheet, against the very best team in the country. (or so says the points table)

So when that tap by Eto’o went in . . and then Messi . . it erased all our hard work that came before it. People will look at that 0-2 scoreline and say haha, Barca >>> Real – but they don’t know the half of it. That’s why it’s so bitter. They were not 2 goals better than us. Really, NOT. We were able to take everything they’d thrown at us, and parry back – and only at the very, very end did we surrender. A mistake by Sergio . . no time to react by Iker . . who was marking Eto’o? . . and the damage was done. It just felt . . so awful. If only we could’ve held on for 8 more minutes . . if only we had the firepower, and the legs, to bomb forward and attack their goal for an equalizer . . if only it had been Robben rather than Drenthe on that scintillating run towards Valdes . . if only the gods had spared us the injures . . if only.

But even through all this hurt – I love this team even more. I loved them when they were winning, of course. But you know what I’ve just realized?

I love them even more when they’re not.

When they’re up with their backs against the wall, and missing half their teammates. When they have to go into Camp Nou and face the rampant Barca after just 2 days rest (which of you La Liga officials is responsible for moving up the date from Sunday to Saturday?!). When Sergio must play LB because Heinze’s out and Marcelo’s suspended and anyway who else can possibly keep Messi in check?? Yes, all that. All that makes me want to fight for them, to root for them even more. Even through the losses – because in each loss, you learn something more, something new, that snuggles its way into your heart.

Like today. Today, when they put on such a disciplined defense – truly defending as a team – just like the Italians do it! Wow! I’m clicking through the pictures, and all I see are our pristine-white shirts and shorts soaked to the core with mud and dirt, while the Barca players were essentially dirt-free. Maybe it’s the color of the uniforms, but . . it says a lot right there about how hard we played, how we left nothing on the table.

I was too selfish when I said earlier that I wanted to see attacking football, and none of this negative stuff. It’s actually the mark of a great team, of a cohesive team, to understand what is needed rather than what is desired, and to change their normal game strategy in order to adapt and hold down the fort in enemy territory. That they did it under such immense pressure and criticism and so little time with Juande and everything else against their favor says tremendous things about this team. I loved their attitude, I loved their effort, and Canna trying to negate that goal already in the net and Palanca trying to scoop it out too made me both laugh and cry. This team deserves far more than the 0 points collected in these 2 last La Liga losses. But I hope they know they’ve gained something in return too: unbridled appreciation from their fans. Well, at least this fan!

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Iker. For being such a lion in goal today, and making every single one of their shots look ordinary. The biggest games, brings out the best in the biggest players, don’t they?

Thank you, Salgado, for staying with Henry, even though he was fresher than you, faster than you, and younger than you.

Thank you, Sergio, for staying on Messi like glue, and shutting him down for much of the game.

Thank you, Gago, for being everywhere; Higuain and Raul, for tracking back to help defend; Guti, for making every single possession we had count; Metzelder, for being so alert; Sneijder, for trying to play, for wanting to play, even though you clearly weren’t 100%, or even 80%; Drenthe, for your tireless runs (oh, how much would you be reliving that nightmare of the almost-goal??); Palanca, for being fed to the wolves – and not blinking an eye; Canna . . oh, Canna, for that final flying leap in the end to try to save that Messi goal!! My God, my heart leapt out of my throat seeing that, I didn’t care about the 0-2 scoreline!!! But to see you try! And then to see you bang your head against the post and fall down in pain! (well, thank GOD it wasn’t your head! Haha, you’re too smart for that, aren’t cha?)

I truly, truly have not seen a better defensive effort than the one we gave today. Damnit, we made Barca look ordinary and increasingly frustrated for 82 solid minutes! And for that, I want to thank Juande Ramos. Can you image a Schuster team being this defensively sound? Or playing this well together?? Haha, Bernd – its “impossible” to win in the Camp Nou, is it? Well, after today, I can tell you:

Barca is NOT invincible.

Not by any stretch of the imagination. Hell, except for one set-piece mistake and one very, very late counter-attack, given the huge gap in freshness and health between the two teams – we could’ve drawn. And if Robben could’ve played? If we even had half our injured players back? We could’ve truly made a game of it.

As it were . . we made them sweat through all 90 minutes. And San Iker has been returned to us. Bravo, boys! Our toughest game of the year so far is over. Now there’s just one more game vs Valencia – and then reinforcements are coming!!

HALA MADRID!