The Showdown

nice and quite, damn i miss the classicos, oy!!! can someone flick a deuce here

There is a whole new post up you know, with over 150 comments on it...

for some reason i can see that, refresh clear history and what not keep gettin this post as the latest, will keep tryin thou, thanx zizou

You mean you can't* right?

Well incase you still can't, there is now another new post about Morata, Sarabia and Sahin....

and we will make this the best real blog here too bassam, full of class like the team we support. kudos to you sir and to kaushik, jordan and corey. keep this home away from home alive and kickin

Indeed best blog on the offside :)

how was your day bud, am totally knackered

Yer average I guess, why what you been up to?

too much running around, and u would of thought slavery was something in the past

we need to make a special chat room for you two :P

can we have a balcony too :)

we need a new post..too many comments to keep up with!

btw bassam, u said 140000 hits in march..how about april coz i feel its even more :)

You can buy all you want, next year midfield will be xavi-pepe-lass anyway. Good game despite of mou yesterday. I like lass no kidding he's tough but no criminal he even could play in barça ... as central defender. Carvalho that is some sportsman behaviour. Menudo hijo de p*ta. Ref saved you from a butchery. No 11vs11 playing like that. Record of fouls by a team in cl.

Why kaka? Strange, some say it was the presi who asked mou mou. :P

We're buying Xavi from you guys? Ewww, no thanks. You can keep him.

The first leg was the worst game in football history. I'm glad that Barcelona took it, fits them perfectly.

The winner of the worst game in football history is FC Barcelona. Has a ring to it, eh?

I'm just sad. Utterly and completely sad. Life isn't the same at the moment. The fat lady has sung. I feel for my team.

In my sadness I can't help but notice there were not many problematic cules around this time. The air feels so good ya? It was hard to breath in poisonous atmosphere. I hope they finally learn some manners and know that gloating and boasting while visiting the opponent's blog are despised. Good for them.

Or they are just ashamed of the way they reach the final and can't bring themselves to gloat? That would be great as well since feeling shameful for one's shameful act is a rare quality.

I might be pushing my luck..those cules might read this comment and decide to swarm this blog again. So much for clean air.

Ironic... Our 2 losses to Barca is when we finished the game with 10 men.

Mou's Tactics are amazing. Great Coach. He got us further than i thought we would go.

We held silverware this year, and i think this is a beginning of another great era.

Barca is at best form, which means they only go down from here. We, on the other hand, just got this team together, and its only up from here.

The tie is over, but i just can't help but antagonize the situation that if Pepe didn't get that red card, we would be most likely going to Wembley.

We have 4 games left... so.... SO HALA MADRID.

You were down to 10 men, because you decided to defend and play physically against very technical quick players. Yesterday Marcello, Diarra and Carvallio could have been redcarded again. You keep on kicking and playing rugby and than complain when you get a red card. You don't want a red card, play football.

well I would say we play physical against theatrical players and that is our undoing

Ummm... You said it. Playing physical is what shut Barca Down. Hence, the 2 draws and 1 defeat for Barca.

Risky tactics because the fouls and the yellow cards.

Alot will agree with me, that Pep had no solution for Mou's tactics. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Messi was limited by just one man, which usually didn't happen before. opposing teams usually committed 2 or more defenders on Messi to contain him in which it opened up space for others such as Ineista, Villa, ...etc to score goals. When Pepe was able to shut him down, those extra defenders were not needed, so Ineista and company had no space to use the ball. Hence, No goals for Barca.

With Madrid a man down, space is recreated for players all around the pitch. And considering that our sent off player is our best defensive player, Barca struck two birds with one stone which shifted the tie to Barca.

So you see, after the Copa Final. Pep knew he was in trouble. Did he instruct his players to use theatrics? did the players do it on their own? I don't know, but this quote explains it better than i can:

“The true test of character is not how much we know how to do, but how we behave when we don't know what to do.”- John W. Holt, Jr

In the eyes of many, Barca failed that test. They won, congratulations to you/them, but in my Opinion, they will never live up to a truly great football team. They are just a team with multiple talented players.

Unfortunately, i will be cheering you on in the CL, cuz i simply hate EPL teams, Unless Raul amazes once more, then i def will be rooting against you again.

Good Luck Cules,

GO RAUL...

HALA MADRID.

I don't understand the complaiing. If anything I thaught Real were favoured by the ref. The goal was disallowed, because Ronaldo fell on Masherano (doesn't matter if he did it on purpose or not). The fact is that if Masherano wasn't tripped, he would have the ball and there would be no goal.

Second, The dirty play from Marcello and Carvalio, Especially carvalio derserved a red card. Diarra was olso close to red. The ref influenced bu Mourinio's moaning was afraid to give Real a red card, and Carvalio knew it so he kept tackle from behind. The fact is that you didn't see teh ball all night. Give me one good chance you had apart from the goal? How many shots did CR have on goal= ZERO. It was casillias who saved you in the first half, teh best goallie in the world. The only way you scored was because of a mistake in the defense, it was not a build up play. Sorry but that is pethatic, and a small club mentality. you should aspire to have a team that will dominate Barca playing football, not by breaking legs and playing log balls hoping from a mistake from barca.

Oslo Mourinio left Ozil, youre best player on the bench for an oout of form Kaka, you call that a good manager?

All 11 Real Madrid players deserve red cards, for their blasphemy of standing against the football gods. After that, the football gods can tiki-taka with themselves to the goal... ahh... uninterrupted tiki-taka with 1,000,0000 passes completed. That's goodness, that's the kind of game where Xavi will declare "football is the winner tonight".

Go away u ass.

I'm sooo hopeful in next season. With Sahin and Callejon and possibly a spanish striker (Llorente). We will win the League and the cup and if UEFA permits, the Champions league.

We should all be proud!! Hala Madrid

as reported that they are not going after llorente this summer, if they do it will be next year.

Whre have I heard this one before? Going shopping again. How many more players do you need? Jsut keep the team together and try to improve froim there.

Why are you trying to put sense.
Self denial and self destructing anger is the tone set now.
Wait for the final fire the special one will ignite.
Mad men can do much more - Hope it does not reach that level

Why is everyone talking about the Man United Barca final, we've still got Raul, anything can happen.

I hate Graeme Souness for being a Barca fanboy, some of his comments were like "Its always a shame if Barcelona dont make the UCL final, they play so well "

From zonal marking... he sums it up pretty well.

"Real’s European Cup bid may have come to an end in Barcelona, but they really lost this tie back in Madrid. With the obvious caveat that Barcelona didn’t need to win the game, a 1-1 draw away at the Nou Camp is a fine result – it was the 0-2 home defeat that cost Real. Mourinho’s tactics from the start in the first leg seemed surprising at the time and misguided in hindsight, and his failure to adjust after Pepe’s sending-off was the deciding factor in the tie.

On the other hand, Guardiola will consider this a job well done. It’s difficult to remember a period in the 180 minutes when Barcelona looked second best – they played their natural game to an extent, but were also more reserved in certain ways – particularly with the use of the full-backs, who remained in position for most of the tie and largely prevented quick Real breaks down the flanks – the strategy that was so effective in the cup final.

It wasn’t a contest dominated by tactics, but it was a good advert for pressing and playing high up – both because Barcelona won, and because Real looked far better when they played a proactive game themselves."

Lets not complain abt referee coz there is no use in doing it... the tie is over. How can we complain... football is not a contact sport anymore...... and we all know barca players are just too divine to dive... A red card costing 2 away goals and a disallowed away goal that's peanuts .. it happened last year as well although the red card went to inter and the disallowed goal for barca... we should be happy that we did not go down to 9 men.... thank god.

All in all 4 Mathches final result madrid 3-4 barca.
Should mou have kept PEPE tactic a surprise till CL semi final?Was Copa that important for mou to show his masterplan?
Was defensive tactic in home leg our undoing?
Was Pepe's card really that crucial?
Are barca players really doing premeditated diving?

these are the questions we will not find answer's too.... but we should be optimistic with the progress we have made this year and strive harder....

About last match i think casillas, lass and arbeloa were very good.every one played well except possibly kaka.

So I'm going to try and respond.

I 100% agree that the first leg was a sham of a football match. I hate that *that* game was played in our home and the *good* game was played at Camp Nou. However, conventional wisdom has ALWAYS said that in the 2-leg match having the second leg at home is favourable.

We had the first leg, and tactically it made sense for BOTH teams to play a cagey match. I don't necessarily like watching long-ball tactics, and it is what first made me turn away from the EPL (a long time ago) because it's boring as heck to watch. But, then again, so is a multitude of passes that go nowhere but in one's own third.

Mourinho couldn't afford to let Barca have too many spaces because that is where they thrive and Barca weren't too bothered about scoring too many as long as we didn't score much because the next game was at the Camp Nou where they are kings.

Mourinho set his side out tactically to play a game that has proven successful against Barca before. Let's not forget Barca are an incredible team and at this moment in time, we do still need to adjust to beat them, just as they have done for us.

No one knows what would have happened had we played a different game. We might have won, we might have lost. But let's at least recognize that had Pepe not wrongfully been sent off the scoreline might have remained more equal as he had done wonderfully in shutting down Messi so far. I think Pepe's red card was *that* crucial. Course they also could have scored more, the Ref could've awarded a penalty... who knows. Speculation is just that.

The thing, I can almost be sure of is had the scoreline remained 0-0 or had we nicked 1 goal in the last 20 mins and then come to Camp Nou and earned a draw... Madridistas around the world would be cheering. Commentators (stupid as they are) would be hailing Mourinho's genius and most of us would have said a cheery bygones to the tactics of the first half (most, not all, Andres... I see you! :-p)

Instead, the selected tactics, which had proven effective, did not play out. Did refereeing have something to do with it, especially over 2 legs, yes probably, as we have seen the images around the world. But instead of bemoaning UEFA conspiracies, which we all did yesterday whilst watching the game, let's be thankful of the following:

1. we have a coach who truly cares
2. we have amazing players
3. we have a coach who understands tactics and will not bow to external pressure when it comes to organizing the game (I am thankful for that -- because there is clearly a reason why Mourinho is lauded as a coach, and it isn't for his "sunny" personality - it's for his brain)
4. we will only improve
5. we made it to the CL semis
6. we won something -- Copa was very important, especially as we hadn't won it for 17 years
7. management seems to be wising up slightly
8. we can win la Decima in our 110th anniversary -- that's just poetic
9. we are not cheating, crying, divers
10. next year this team will be even more amaaaaazzzinnnnngggg!!!

:-D

best top ten i have seen in a while, i hope you can post it again and again :)

did anyone watch the classless fan who try to attack/touch/taunt ronaldo at the beginning of the 2nd half?

are you all serious, nobody saw this?

Try again next season whiny Real Madrid. Try again and fu.ck.ing move on please. Your team has been defeated. Just swallow the bitter pills. The white shirts have been dirty all these years.

Look at the post under you. Learn from it. Memorize it. Idolize it. That is all.

As many of you might or might not know, I'm a Barca fan who helps run the Barcelona Football Blog. Just wanted to pop over and say congratulations on an excellent match. Casillas is an amazing keeper, and Lass Diarra had a whale of a match.

Obviously, I don't really like all of the off-pitch stuff, and I think that many of the post-match comments by the players were said in the ire of defeat.

But as a fan of the game, I'm just pleased (irrespective of the outcome) with what was a great match to watch, even as I'm not happy about Mascherano's dive and making the most of contact. I do imagine that the ref was thinking that Mascherano would have gotten to the ball had he not been clipped, which was why he waved the goal off. Rightly or wrongly is for others to decide.

Know also that Mourinho got his tactics right. Had he been able to get the 0-0 at home, you all would be booking Wembley accomodations right now. Whether people choose to blame the ref, or Messi, is up to them. But the fact is worth noting, as well as that you all will be amazing once your collection of talent coheres into a team. They should keep Mourinho for that job.

I just want to say Kxevin, and I hope you don't mind me writing this here (or at all), that on your blog you wrote a wonderful review / comment on the match.

As a Madridista, but more importantly as a person, I want to sincerely thank you for remembering and bringing to light, that no matter what happens on the pitch, somethings are more important than football.

I think it is truly sad, all that has gone on in the last few days, including Mourinho's meltdown but especially Busquets alleged racial slur. Which quite honestly given the deafening silence that has come from the Barca camp, I have to assume, was real.

I don't know you, but it saddens me that a player on your team could hurt you, as a fan and so many others, in such a way. If a Madrid player did the same... I would be devastated. I've truly enjoyed reading all your comments on this blog and the few articles of yours on your blog that I have read, as I only peruse when we play each other.

You come across as a classy, balanced, and knowledgeable fan / person - and I don't really know what to say (and again, I hope this is okay to write) but thank you and my deepest condolences.

Also congratulations to Barca on their victory and to Abidal on his return - the best thing to come out of both matches.

Thanks. Congrats on making it through, all though clearly I am hoping Man U wins in Wembley (since it can't be us)! lol

Absolutely agree Mourinho got the tactics (mostly) right, I only disagree in that once we went a man down in the first leg he needed to change it up more, even if it wasn't necessarily fun for Madridismo to watch. But we need a coach who is actually going to get us back to our winning ways and he has done a great job so far.

This last game was great and, even if we didn't go through, I think a lot of confidence was gained on our side and next season the battle between us will be even better.

Again, congrats on your making it through to the finals (and even though I want Man U to win.... I fully expect Barca to show the world why Barca (and Madrid) are miles ahead of everyone else.)

See you for the SuperCopa!! :-)

Very classy reply :)
Respect

Respect. That is all i have to say. Complete and utter respect!

A fun fact for you guys, and since everyone was hating on Xabi, he was the player to run the most distance in the game, 11.26 km. Xabi was also the player with the most passes in our team, with 40 completed passes.

For someone who is considered too slow to be our central midfielder, i think he is doing better than anyone in the squad right now. Yes he is slow, but thats why he is a deep lying midfielder. And thats why a central midfielder thats good on the ball will compliment him very well. Sahin seems like a perfect fit. Khedira would have been good, but he seems awkward on the ball deep in our area. He is better further up the pitch.

Xabi is by far the most crucial player in our squad. The only irreplaceable player.

iker is #1, xabi is #2 only because all the other DM are true defensive midfielder who dont organize the game but break up the opponents attack

I agree with Zizou. You always say that criticisms don't always mean haticisms, i mean, hatred. I criticized him for his speed,and how long it takes him to pass the ball. It's not like I blamed him for the loss or anything.

Oh no i didn't mean blaming him for the loss. I meant that exact thing. While Alonso does seem slow at the ball, he is really fast in his thinking. And for him to actually be the one with the most passes for us in every game he starts in this season means that he uses his disadvantages to his advantages.

I think the issue from the whole idea is: If Alonso is marked out of the game, do we have someone that can take over?

For me, Granero offers an option. A deep deep deep lying Ozil offers an option. Nuri sahin also offers an option.

Dude I do have a complaint about you Bassam, which is very rare, I don't like when you say everyone :) i'm not hating on Xabi at all, I stuck up for him earlier on the comments, saying he played some lovely through balls, and switched the play to Arbeloa at times very nicely. And him and Lass put in 2 great efforts in midfield in covering ground last night. I'm not in the against Xabi crew whatsoever. There were so many comments I know it is easy to say everyone.

Jajaja, touche! Not everyone, just those who hated on Xabi.

CASTILLA.VS.VILLAREAL!!!!!

we didn't need any sort of miracles,all we needed is fucking justice..

I still think we should play the trivote against Barca. In my opinion, the Copa final was our best game of all the four, and we played with the trivote. The key here is stifling Barca, and hitting them where it hurts. In this game, Casillas kept us in it until the second half. It could easily have been 2-0 going into half time, and we had no shot at all.

The problem with the two games in the Bernebeau was the fact that we did not press higher up the pitch. We sat too deep.
@Zizou re saying the same thing every time only to get beaten the next season. I think it's the fact that we have changed coaches to frequently, coupled with the fact that we tend to get naive as to how attacking-mined we are going into those games. That's what I hope Mou has sorted out. You don't need to put an all out attacking team to actually attack. Again, the Copa final is an example. A defensive team on paper, but an attacking machine in the actual game or the first half at least.

Why am I saying this? It's because this was actually the first game (I think) where Barca had more chances than we had, and it was in the same game that we happened to "attack". I don't agree. I think we attacked in the copa, but also stifled Barca's attack. It was a good approach if you ask me.

Yes I agree, just another reason for us to keep Mou, we need to have a manager who doesn't have to start from scratch every year against Barca, and need more time to figure out what our strengths and weaknesses are against them. Playing them this many times this season should turn out to be a great benefit in the long run as Mou would have learned so much for following games.

exactly.. also when changing coaches every year the GM is the one getting some players. those might not fit into what the coach wants, the coach needs to be the one picking his type of players. also the youth get develop as the season goes by, a new coach doesn't know much about them at the beginning of the season.

Truer words have never been spoken.

a good defense sets up your offense. pepe is the best central midfielder real has. xabi and lass together cant do what he did alone and lass had a great game today. that why they had so much freedom in this game.

Lass was wonderful today. I agree, Pepe in the middle really worked out. Like I said, press higher up the pitch with more intent to actually attack, and we have ourselves a strategy.

yeah i exaggerated. pepe is not better then both. pepe was a beast and thats why i want a permanent move to that position and move ramos to CB.
yeah lass was great, i wish he would give it all every game. i understand that it sucks to sit in the bench when you think you are better then the player playing but thats just how it is. gotta be a bigger man

So basically my understanding of the clasicos:
We won 1 game and drawed 1 game, Barcelona too drawed 1 won 1, BUT
we came out with a trophy, where Barca still have to go play Manu-U, it is here where they will be screwed, (here is to hoping the Man-U players will NOT take their shit ass theatrics)
Barcelona have totally ruined their image, I WILL FOREVER BE GREATFULL OF THAT
Our team put out a fight, and to be honest i am happy..i dont think this season could have turned out better... it is just a taste for what is to come next season..
Hala Madrid!

Although they did kind of win the league... that is a bit of a bummer aswell..

we can just say it's not as important or we weren't interested in it...

Its pretty clear that Pep gave a speech telling the players to stay on heir feet, with the exception of one in particular. He rubbed his blading head and looked at the midget at his feet and said the world thinks you are the second coming. The messiah. You are the only one left on our team that can influence our 12th man ( and the media) so if you feel so much as a brush from a white jersey you go down, you go down and wail and scream and moan like you were just stabbed in the heart.

Only problem is Mascherano didn't want the new god of football to get al the glory so he managed a perfectly timed dive to take away a perfectly fair goal. And once again, between their theatrics and the refs/UEFA/media/dumb people of the world, Barca manage to have the advantage.

Ok so before de bleeckere boarded the plane to Barcelona, Villar told him keep 11 men on the pitch. Just make sure they don't win.

IMO!!!

Holy shit! In April, the Real Madrid offside got 90,000 hits. Second behind the liverpool offside. In March, we got a 140,000 hits, an all time Offside high!

So, let me thank Kaushik, Jordan and Corey for the great work they do here. And of course, all 140,000 one of you.

Hala Madrid!!!

Barcelona might be on top now, but Real Madrid are still the kings, baby!

You guys totally deserve it :) Awesome job!

Or probably someone like Andres or Zizou, 100,000 times. :P But excellent news! HALA MADRID!

lolz i'm not that bad :) plus don't think I don't see you commenting more these days Ramses :)

you have 1847 comments on real offside :p

keep it dude, i personally like to read every one of them (doesnt mean i agree with u though :)

Hahhh Zizou, I'm just getting out of finals week, so a lot of free time recently. :)

Unique hits baby!!! ie, each one only counts once :D

That's awesome!! Congrats guys! :-)

I don't know what a "hit" is but yes!!!!!!!! go real offside

lol @ Andres. I can't believe you called me "your cule friend" You know I'm a lover of La Liga and Spanish football first and foremost.

Xabi Alonso on Twitter:

‘The statements attributed to me are false. Someone can tell me where they come from? Of course some of the audio link or video?’

This sums up the spanish media no? Making up comments out of no where. They keep hitting new lows.

I'm a Barca fan but personally I think Mourinho has been holding Madrid back a bit. The squad has so much attacking power and I think he was more concerned with containing Barca and not repeating the 5-0 scoreline than he was with attempting to get 5 goals for themSELVES. I don't buy into the "well we attacked Barca at Camp Nou and got hammered!" philosophy. Xavi scored early on a fluke goal and things opened up for Barca in terms of confidence and that helped a lot. THAT Barca was Barca at its peak but with Villa and Pedro not in their best form I don't think there was a chance of a repeat of that tonight. Personally I think Mourinho is the problem and CR7 was totally justified in flailing about last week when he had no support. I really did sympathize with him. That 6-3 Valencia game is more of what Madrid are REALLY capable of but you only see glimmers of that under Mourinho...I feel like there are other managers that could really let the squad realize their full potential and it's a shame Mourinho's Madrid will probably be remembered more for their cards and fiery clasicos than beautiful football.

Giapso... the thing about the 5-0 is that as much of a loss as it was and the subsequent contribution to goal difference. It was also a huge emotional loss. None of us ever want to see that again. I do not blame any coach for trying to mitigate that because QUITE FRANKLY ITS HIS JOB (sorry for the caps but no other way to emphasize).

A coach is meant to ensure his team does not lose and when they lose that they do not lose so badly. After that loss Mou took all the blame, as he should. He was quiet and classy about it. There were no histrionics or accusations because you beat us fair and square. Since then he has learned and set the team up differently and it has been effective. 2 draws, 1 win, 1 loss. For a new team that got it's butt spanked in November he sure got us up to par pretty quickly.

As a Barca fan of course you want us to play like we did against Valencia - great attack, horrid defense. The 6 goals came because Valencia also played like crap for the first 70 mins. If we played like that against you guys... we'd have been carved open. Scorelines do not tell them full story, nor do stats.

Lol at Barca fans "helpfully" telling us our coach, the only one who has come close to unseating them, is the problem. :-)

I'm glad you guys didn't think I was trolling - because I wasn't. The first half of the Copa del Rey was dominated by Madrid and I think that was arguably the best 45 minutes I saw them play (I admit I didn't see the full game of the second leg yesterday) and if it wasn't for some bad luck it probably would have been 2-0 at half. I feel like if THAT Madrid had come out more and not played as conservatively as they ultimately did - especially for the first leg at home - the scorelines would have been very different, and I feel like Mourinho is the only manager I can think of who would have played so cautiously. So that's where the "holding RM back" comes from...because I don't feel like other managers would have done the same.

I understand not wanting another humiliating 5-0 scoreline and it's his job to insure that, but look at the results of the Copa del Rey and this second leg, which *really* should have been 2-1, and maybe more if that goal hadn't been disallowed. Barca are not unbeatable and with a makeshift defense and I guess I felt like this was the time to strike...and IMO some other managers might have tried to exploit that and I don't feel like Mourinho is one of them and that's what cost RM a ticket to Wembley. I don't always agree with his tactics, but I admit I don't always understand his choices either. That squad that was fielded for the second leg is more of what I would have expected the entire time. Sorry that this was all over the place.

Apart from the few sensible ones like Mr kxevin, Ramzi, etc, the rest just show up with all these anti-Mou comments. Some of them are so clouded with their hatred for the man that their comments become funny. It's always the same pattern "oh Madrid is too great a club for Mou" "Oh, I used to admire your club before Mou took charge" then why weren't you a fan?lol. I've given up on them. I try not to even reply to such comments unless, of course, it starts getting more attention than it deserves.

I don't understand. I wasn't coming in here trying to start stuff...if anything I was saying "people give Barca too much credit and Madrid doesn't get enough." Frankly I feel like Barca was holding on by a thread and RM was going to tear them up but, in my opinion, Mou was too hesitant to deliver a fatal blow (basically I expected Higuain/Benzema and CR7 to start up front every game because there's no way Masch and Pique could contain them forever - I know those first two had been injured but they're still a huge threat).

If you've "given up" on responding then don't respond. If you're going to respond, do so with substance like smurf_ette did. If I'm missing something from the games, show me, don't just go "LOL NOOB BARCA FAN." Thank you.

I guess the appropriate thing to do at this point is to apologize then. My apologies man. Please drop by more often.

I appreciate that, and no hard feelings. I had never posted here before so I didn't really know what to expect but you all seem to be pretty level-headed so that's cool.