You all are getting a Eulertastic review, so stand back for that one. But just some quick thoughts from me, and let’s share some joy:
–I tuned in at 1-0, and was oddly calm. It looked like they had played their best, and we hadn’t.
–I have NO idea how we are going to replace Puyol.
–Fabregas was invisible most of the match, popped up at the right time.
–Happy 600th for Xavi, way to celebrate with a goal. Next time, lay off the hair gel, and you could have a brace.
–Messi was erratic, but enormous at a few crucial times.
–Sanchez is worth every penny. He seems to have said “The hell with it,” and is playing his game. Amazing stuff.
–Valdes needs to work on passing out of the back, man-style.
–The return of Iniesta to the midfield saw the surge of our dominance.
–Keita is. He just is. I predicted he would come on about ’75, for those in-the-way qualities, and so he did. Brilliant.
–Abidal, when players weren’t getting full-speed runs at him, was enormous.
–Best of all, there is absolutely NOTHING they can say about this match. No refs, no diving, no nothing. We walked into their house, and whipped their asses.
That’s all it got for now, folks, but let’s have some FUUUUUNNNNN!
Wooohoooo!!!! I am sooooo happy!
Thet went better that expected!
Best of all, there is absolutely NOTHING they can say about this match. No refs, no diving, no nothing. We walked into their house, and whipped their asses.
THIS! M’F’ING THIS!
Yes, this made me happiest!
Brilliant, brilliant result. We kicked their asses playing in third gear. In many ways, reminded me of the April 2010 Clasico. Clinical, professional, killers. God I love this team.
End of an era.Feels good man.
I loved iniesta, alexis was good, leo is leo, but puyi and busquets were my men of the match, without them we would have surely concede more .
This, more than any other Barcelona Clásico performance since the Manita, was one to shut the doubters up, because as you said, no controversy. We came in, went down in the first minute, and stormed back with three goals and near complete dominance. It’s humiliating for Madrid, beautiful for us and is so so important to defining this team’s character, its ability to overcome adversity. Further down in the table than we’ve ever been under Pep, conceding earlier than we ever had before, in the Bernabeu, and we still won, with no help from a referee or anyone except Cristiano Ronaldo.
Love this club, love this result. Visca el Barça!
also, maybe finally pep will get his credit for being an amazing coach.
Great selection by Pep in that it gave the team an incredible amount of flexibility. For example, I’m not sure when it was, but early in the first half when he switched Alves up to a wide midfield role, brought Cesc back into the midfield, dropped Xavi deeper, had Busquets play as a stopper, Pique as Cover, and Puyol as right back-that was when Barca shook off the jitters and started to play their game.
In the same vein, its worth mentioning that the two players Pep bought in the summer were preferred, probably partly for form, but I think their versatility adds a tremendous amount of flexibility and fluidity to the team.
Did I really see Mou shake Tito’s hand? Was I dreaming? Was I in clasico-induced delirium?
No, I don’t think that was Tito. He seemingly came in with the intention, but couldn’t find Tito, and ended up shaking up someone else’s hand. Was funny.
Yeah – he did. Tito came up later and Mou went over and shook his hand also.
Actually – it was at the end of the match that they shook hands, according to later reports.
And, it’s been said before, but Alexis’ ability to beat players off the dribble adds another dimension. He looked like Messi-lite on occasions out there.
– Messi was quite erratic, but boy was Crynaldo a total waste!
– Iniesta was huge in the second half, but somehow shied away when close to goal.
– Sanchez is superb. What a signing. Imagine us having Bojan in the squad. Whoa!
– Puyol, my friends, was what I predicted he will be – the Rock.
Alexis was huge, had we played with the squad from the spring, we lose this one. Messi looked very slow for some reason most of the time and didn’t press much.
He was pressing a ton before the yellow card. And immediately afterwards. Not so much after half time. Pep probably sat him down and told him to be careful out there.
Yeah that is my guess.
Yeah for Puyol. I said last threads, I prefer Masch over Puyol to start. After saw Puyol today, perhaps Masch dont have such heroic performance yet. Absolute ROCK, as Srini said.
This was a really tough one, we didn’t control the game at all in the first 30 minutes, their pressing was a real problem. Good that Cristiano missed that chance. And that second goal was a very lucky one but so was their first so it kind of evens itself out with respect to being lucky.
We are spoiled at this point, but it would have been really helpful if we had scored a 4th and a 5th, we didn’t really go for it and nevertheless had chances to score more. Assuming we win the second game in the spring, we would be on top if both teams drop the same number of points in the other games, but a bigger scoreline may have hurt their confidence more and caused them to drop some more points in their coming games.
At some point, I think EE pressing was less intense compare with last season clasicos. I think its consequences they dont play defensive trivote in the midfield. They use Xabi and Lass only. Or perhaps its because formation flexibility that Pep apply throughout the game to chock the mid area. Wait for the expert tactical preview to understand it better
This proves one more fact. Madrid cannot sustain their high intensity pressing for the full 90 minutes. Actually they were pretty tired by the half time. We should use that fact into account next time and plan a slowly evolving agme. The away fans rocked.
Cesc was invisible, Xavi was below par. But both of them scored. that’s it. Iniesta was a beast in teh second half.
They can’t indeed, but usually they don’t have to – they can kill the game long before they get tired. And they weren’t that far off from scoring a second one today.
That’s why prepare for the early onslaught. By the way they had only one chance in the first half – the Ronaldo one. The goal was gifted to them.
I know. But had he scored, the game would have become really difficult
Glad that Ronaldo was so selfish at that moment. He have free mate at the right side i think.
Brilliant win. Can’t wait for the tactical analysis by Euler.
Also, a little credit to Mou and EE for coming out with their A game. There was still a lot of tactical fouling in the match but they’ve definitely come a long way from what we saw in CDR.
Yeah
–I have NO idea how we are going to replace Puyol.
We can’t. He is irreplaceable. I watch the youth teams way more than you do, and frankly I don’t see anyone there who has the same characteristics as Puyol. Bartra comes closest–he is a born leader with a noble character and a disregard for his own well-being over that of the team. It helps that Puyol is his idol.
But there never will be nor can be a “replacement” for Puyi. A poor substitute at best.
You said it. Carles Puyol – the gentle lionheart. Once in a generation player for Barcelona. Hope he carries on for a couple more years and wins all the trophies his team plays for.
When was the last time we lost when Puyol was in the team? Anyone?
I know we didn’t lose at at last season with him in the lineup. So sometime before then 🙂
Did you see that stop that Puyol did on the attempted cross from Kaka? I swear that he stopped it with his balls. That’s our capita – he lays his balls on the line for the team. What a great match from him!
Puyol was incredible tonight. I don’t think anyone can deny it, but I do think that Mascherano has a lot of the same characteristics as Puyol and will be an admirable successor.
Agree with everything said here about Puyol.
ABSOLUTE HAPPINESS.
ABSOLUTE BLISS.
ABSOLUTE RESPECT.
ABSOLUTE LOVE.
hooooorayyyy..yupikayyy..
What a great morning today? (asia time)
Actually, both Marca and As are already saying that Messi should have been booked and sent off for that foul on Alonso. Who cares?
Not me xD
His cleats were down, definitely not a yellow. How Pepe didn’t get a card before his eventual yellow is beyond me.
Pretty good performance from the referee. Nothing to complaint and fair for both sides.
And the hobbits beat the Mouron’s orcs in Mourdor.
Iniesta was sooooo much fun to watch.
Messi showed up HUGE when he had to.
Puyi is an absolute beast. I’m so glad Pep played him. 50% skill, 50% tough, and 100% heart (yes, when you are as great as our capita your numbers can add up to 200%).
Tito!
Now let’s go win a trophy in Japan!
The alveses and iniestases, the keitees and fabrepasses! the valdeses and sanchezes.. messis + busis.! we fried the orcs and evil mouron! did you see alonsorc whine at goal 3? or marcelorc eat himself up at goal 2? hahahaha! take me to the mines of Moria any day!
I’ve been grinning like an idiot for the past 20 minutes…
Visca Barca!
Better than leaving your home ground as idiots..
No poke this time.
http://www.as.com/futbol/articulo/mourinho-felicito-vilanova-final-partido/20111210dasdasftb_69/Tes
Also, Tito’s presence was our talisman!
I am soooo watching Revisita this week to see what those idiots have to say now…
“Madrid are looking confident”
“Barca lacking identity…”
WHAT NOW?
Wonder if Mou is gna let Karanka do his post match press conference… LOL
MouMou is giving it right now. “Barcelona won on luck,” pretty much.
Yeah – he was still a very subdued Mou though, in comparison to other press conferences.
In some ways, I do agree with the “luck” bit, if you call RM missing some huge opportunities bad luck – or good luck for Barca!
They got a free goal before the first minute ended – the luck was certainly flowing for both sides!
Wasn’t everyone’s only concern about Alexis was that he wasn’t quite the clinical finisher that Villa and certainly Messi was or as opportunistic as Pedro?
Alexis just took half a dozen games to address that. Phenomenal.
Does he have as many goals as Villa, in a lot less time?
Yes. And I also doubted that he would fit within the passing game. Both concerns proven totally wrong
And think about this: We didn’t play well for all that long. Yes, we came into the match, but Fabregas was mostly MIA, and Messi was as well for long stretches. Iniesta wasted a half on the wing, as well. There is still improvement in this bunch. #holycrap
True. As someone said, we never really got out of 3rd gear.
And I’m not quite sure where Pique is right now. Physically he was on the pitch, but mentally he was away with the fairies.
I blame
BojanShakira!Too much waka waka IMO.
I still believe that Guardiola should have started with Villa as Fabregas was invisible. then he made me shut up by suddenly appearing out of his invisible cloak and scoring.
this is why it’s sometimes good to have an invisible player 🙂
We defended ALL the corners! Visca!!
I’d like to mention a few days back when Kari on that Podcast where she mention about Cesc and his ability to add heading to our arsenal, you were exactly on the ball with that. Add all others on that podcast doubted that statement LOL.
Just so proud of this tea. Outside of the first minute – they played such a brave, composed game at the Bernabeu.
Again – no they didn’t play perfectly. There were reasons for that.
However, at this point we’re kind of forgetting that these matches are being played at Bernabeu.
The team has become so good that its easy to lose sight of that. This is at their house. And we won comfortably – not perfectly – but comfortably – after falling behind in the first season.
This is just an amazing team.
And I’m just speechless at Pep. He truly is a genius. His understanding of the game is unbelievable. I watch these matches – outline problems the team will face.
And time and time again – Pep figures out solutions to the problems.
He’s just a masterclass.
Eagerly awaiting your masterclass on tactics.
Absolutely brave showing from our team! They came into the nemesis’ house with do much bravery and faith in themselves. That keep Barca apart from the rest. Our captain Puyi is indeed our lionheart.
OT: Porqueno’s deconstructing Barca’s win and keeps saying “Not to take away the credit from our rivals, but I think it’s luck.” He also thinks Messi should have been red carded. (Oh shut up, already!). Sure, luck maybe on our side perhaps, but Barca showed skills and spirit and team play. And that makes them the best team on earth. Off to Japan to win another trophy.
Just ignore it. Some pathetic just try find excuses to take the merit away from us. Fair decision from referee to keep the match balance throughout
This guy must be feeling like an idiot right about now.
http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/3837/frank-isola/2011/12/09/2793873/frank-isola-barcelona-with-cristiano-ronaldo-instead-of
Coulda sworn EE were playing with 10 men.
He’s a liability in these games…
Well Thong Boy WAS playing for us tonight!
haha, yeah..he’s so generous to us 🙂
Really happy with the result.
I do agree with Mou(which i hate) that we were lucky. Madrid really competed well and if Ronaldo had brought his A game (or even average game), it would have been a tie. Madrid has improved in leaps and bounds. They do not have as good players as Barca and that was the difference today.
This victory shows how good our guys are individually. This year, Barca still does not have identity yet and that is worrying. I still give Madrid advantage in Liga. Though i think we are favs for CL.
Coming to Mourinho, he has really learned from last year. Very reasonable in his comments and behavior. On other hand, some of the tackles by RM players were simply aweful. Ramos at least should definitely have been off.
If i am being honest, Messi was lucky not to get second yellow. Even his first one was soft and if he had second one, this would be among the softest red ever but he could have been easily given second yellow. Before we say more though Ref also let EE players off more then few times so it was evens.
As for performances ,Messi, Iniesta, Puyol, Pique, Iniesta were immense. For the first 30 mins, Messi was more or less our best player and was involved in two of three goals. Puyol is a lion and i cannot imagine the day when he is off.
Though we won today, i have to say i feel sad for Masch. He is still our best defender for me.
“This victory shows how good our guys are individually. This year, Barca still does not have identity yet and that is worrying. I still give Madrid advantage in Liga.”
I have to disagree here. With this win, and Madrid still to play at Camp Nou, we’re now in pole position. And I don’t think that not having a starting lineup or style of play that is set in stone is such a bad thing. It makes it harder for opposing teams to prepare for us. Last year, everybody and their grandma knew what team was going to play and how we were going to play. This year we have more variety and as the pieces start to gel, we’re only going to get more dangerous
Absolute bull. Anyone can credit any result a team acheives to luck the way Mou is stating it.
Had Ronaldo finished they would have scored more? Sure.
At the same time had Valdes not been uncharacteristically brain dead in the first 10 min they wouldnt have scored. Had we finished off the tremendous chances we had at their end the margin would have been greater than 3-1.
We won because we were better mentally, technically and tactically . End of story…
Disagree. TB has his misses, but Casillas also had some incredible luck in his box, as well. Both sides capitalized on opportunities that quality play present. If Mourinho wants to lay it at the feet of “luck,” that’s how he will be able to sleep tonight.
But quality created the moves, quality got us to the doorstep, quality closed out the match. And what of the luck that came from our keeper crapping it up on a clearance, then having the ball bounce for them? Luck, or opportunities created by pressure and presence?
Luck is a strange word. I just want credit to be given where its due.
What is all this talk about luck? Ronaldo misses because the pressure is intense, Puyol, Pique, Abidal are pressuring him and his team mates. So, Ronaldo has less time to take a good shot or make a good pass. Ronaldo has better games against teams that aren’t as good as Barca.
Forget luck.
What Mou is calling “luck” I call hard work and diligence.
No, that second foul from Messi was pretty soft. Other EE players did it and the referee just give warning before taking card (Pepe tackle on Alexis, eg)
Mou just so frustrated the he cant win against us and saying “luck”
Oh dear looked at your first goal, if its not Valdes mistake that gave suicidal friendly pass to Di Maria. Learn some respect to your opponent. Dont live in imagiantion that you are the special one forever
I beg to disagree… What is luck got to do with it. If we were really that lucky then after the second block by Busquets, who was for me the MOTM Valdes would have been to prevent the first goal. RM is playing a high velocity game. They will miss a host of chances due to that, because teh timeframe to react is very less. It happened in the Super Clasico.
So let’s see, we’ve had Ibra score in his Clasico 2 years ago, Villa score in his last year, and now Sanchez and Cesc! Can Pep call them or what? 😀
I love you all.
😀
back atcha
love you toooo <3
*big hug to JJ*
Even me?
Maybe.
You said it best, Jnice.
<3
Mourinho might squeal (in a subdued or Por Que manner or whatever) about Barca’s “luck” today.. But the facts are staring at his Machiavellian face –
Mourinho’s Madrid vs Guardiola’s Genius Barcelona –
Played – 8
Won – 1
Lost – 4
Drawn – 3
That, my fellow cules, considering the amount of money used to construct the EE side – is what is called a Smackdown. A true victory of Good over Evil 🙂
Thank you. Anyone mentioning the word luck looking at these stats is just ignorant. One team deserved to win and outclassed the other, and its reflected in the scoreline.
Yup, please somebody in EE board of director gave him the bill of billion euro spending to construct this team. and he said “luck”
oh pathetic
Huge party at the Font de Canaletes tonight – just showing it on Barca TV!
I simply dont get it.
I mean, it feels like we didnt play all that well barring Puyol and Abidal.
There was the valdes howler. Xavi was uncharacteristically misplacing passes. Fabregas was virtually invisible. Messi woke up for that assist and went to sleep again. We looked sort of passive in defense and iniesta was also not that direct for me. But after all that and a gifted goal we still beat the hell out of madrid in their home. was madrid bad? i dont think so. they were a little unlucky but this speaks volumes of barca’s quality and ability to carry on with an undeterred sense of professionalism, even after going down in 20 seconds. simply f%^&*ing brilliant.
Madrid must be wondering what it must do to overcome this team. a half a billion euros and a special one later, this is what they get. Thanks TB for bottling it again against us.
Disagree with most of what you say, Gogah. There’s no other midfielder in the world could have kept possession the way Xavi did under huge, constant pressure tonight. They pressed him really well. Messi was a danger every time he picked up the ball and accelerated. He destabilised them for the third as well as his brilliant assist for the first and this is with them upending him every time they could.
I also thought that Iniesta was possibly our best player ( apart from Puyol?) in the second half. We were in trouble until he moved back from the wing to midfield. After that, we ruled. He takes the ball in a tricky situation, turns and runs with the ball at his feet destabilising the defence. He’ll never be the best finisher but without him we go down a notch.
finally, I’m not sure how the defence was passive. I thought they played their hearts out. Apart from CR7’s missed header and one VV save I wasn’t really worried at all whereas we could have scored another three.
A brilliant display in their house 🙂
Meant to say there was a gorgeous move by Iniesta on the left touchline in the second half. Did anyone notice it?
There’s a lot Jim. Absolute joy to watch Iniesta movement. See the Khedira face when he hv no idea how to mark Ini.
it doesnt matter. all i was trying to establish is the fact that a barca in 3rd gear is still enough to overcome a pumped up EE int heir house. thats all. its a great day for all cules. love you all.
What? We’re not lucky because Ronaldo didn’t play a good game or because Madrid’s goals didn’t go in. Don’t buy Mou’s hype! Not being lucky would be if a bird flew in and deflected a goal scoring shot by Madrid. If Ronaldo doesn’t play a good game, if Kaka misses sitters – that’s either because they are being pressured or they just are not that good. Period.
They can keep talking about what if and what could have been all they want. Truth is they got their overpriced (300 mill euros to be exact) asses handed to them on a plate in their own stadium in front of their own fans (who started to leave with over 10 min to go, something that I can’t understand).
I think the reason Fabregas seemed invisible was that he wasn’t really playing as a forward for much of the match, but was filling in space left by his teammates as we probed for space and goals.
To Srs. Andres Iniesta and Carles Puyol, from Pep Guardiola:
From all of us too!
Hi all, congrats to all of us for this team.
And it also solves one more issue. This team has got characters and can play from the heart. Messi was immense in the first half. If you look carefully he dropped into midfield and was instrumental in pushing Madrid defenders a bit back. In these games those kind of small thing matter a lot. I thought Sanchez was struggling in the opeing exchanges, then he decided to stop complaining and started to give Madrid guys back. I thought his impact was similar to Keita’s in first leg of UCL clasico last season.
Barca didn’t win because of any kind of unusual luck.
The old saw of “taking chances” doesn’t hold here. One could say that about any match.
There are substantive reasons for why C.Ronaldo played so poorly. There are likely multiple reasons.
But RM have a structural problem that Mourinho does not address.
Xabi Alonso is often described as the “heartbeat” or “metronome” of RM.
This simply is not true. When RM are at their best their critical player is Oezil. He is the true “heartbeat” of their attack.
Madrid’s problem however is that while Oezil does certain things truly brilliantly – such as his vision – he needs space to operate. It is the lifeblood of his game. And he’s not a player who can create space for himself. That’s what separates Iniesta from Oezil.
The problem when madrid play barca is that Oezil can be pressed out of matches. That happens over and over to him. And once he’s pressed out of a match – the RM frontline gets isolated.
Until RM solves this problem they are going to struggle to fully express themselves against Barca.
But the only way to truly fix this problem is to drop Xabi Alonso from midfield. And that’s likely unacceptable in Madrid.
I thought Kaka was brilliant when he came on. But his problem was that we completely owned the game by that point. I think the biggest problem with Ozil is that he is not comfortable that much with this hugely pressing game of Real Madrid. He is forced to play balls early and he ii not getting any time to think on feet. He has to flow with the rhythm.
This^
Been trying to say this from the start.
The problem when madrid play barca is that Oezil can be pressed out of matches. That happens over and over to him. And once he’s pressed out of a match – the RM frontline gets isolated.
Exactly right. Oezil is a terrific player, but he relies on his team to make space for him in a way Iniesta doesn’t. This is why Iniesta will go down in history as one of the best midfielders ever, and Oezil still has a long way to go to get there.
Yesterday Oezil started strongly, but once Barça had regrouped after the first goal, Busquets and Abidal just got his number and sat on him.
I am off to Sid Lowe’s blog.he fuc**ng predicted a RM win. Hahahhahahhahahahahahaha
May he forever cast us aside as we win silverware!
Eat those words Sid. Eat those words…
I hope he will never predict a win for us. ever. 😛
Thanks Sid you dont jinx us by predicting Barca win LOL 🙂
luck?
this team went to Bernaboo, with 3 (+3) points deficit, conceded a very stupid early goal.. against a very on form team, worth about 300million euros, with their self-proclaim Special One coach.
if Thong Boy played his best, EE would bla bla bla, etc etc etc.
then what if we, FC Barcelona played our top gear? what if Lionel Messi played his best game?
perspective, guys.
I wish I was a fly in the dressing room because Iniesta and Puyol came out as Super Saiyans (lvl 4) after HT!
it’s amazing under Guardiola the ‘new boy’ always scored in El Clasico.
Pique (2008/2009), Ibra (2009/2010), Villa (2010/2011), Cesc and Alexis (2011/2012).
welcome to FC Barcelona! 😀
I said the same thing, although I hadn’t mentioned Mr. Waka Waka 😆
And people say Pep is horrible in signings!
Mourinho has internalized his team’s limitations since the beginning. There is not a team strategy just individual success.
Graham Hunter’s match report up at espn.com. Good stuff.
http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/news/_/columnist/hunter_graham/id/7338515/what-learned-barcelona-3-1-win-real-madrid-clasico-graham-hunter
Behold… Blaugrana pancakes! Blaugrana pancakes for everyone!
https://twitter.com/#!/sheenasidhu/status/145662170967969793/photo/1
Links please. I wanna download as much as possible!
Nice concept. i think I’d substitute food coloring for blueberries and strawberries though. It’s tastier.
Wow, and the guys are already on a plane headed to Japan. So busy!
Have a safe flight guys and win the club world cup for cules 🙂
Wa wa wee waa. What an amazing team. They’ve made us so proud and immensely happy. A joy.