El Clásico

Tension and anticipation build every time Real Madrid and Barcelona face off.  Saturday, the two teams played in the first ‘El Clasico’ of the season in Madrid.  Going into the game Christiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi were tied atop the leaderboard in goals with 17 a piece, although Real had 3 points on Barca.  A win for Madrid would have put them in complete control of La Liga and it appeared the match might be headed that way after the first 45 seconds.

Barcelona keeper, Victor Valdes, tried to play a ball out of the back, it was intercepted, and moments later Real Madrid had the home crowd of 80,000 in cheers as Karim Benzema put them ahead 1-0.  That would be the only time the fans of Madrid got to cheer, as Barcelona would eventually put 3 past Casillas en route to yet another victory over their rivals.

Yet again, Messi established his dominance over Ronaldo with brilliant passes and a few large gaffes from Ronaldo.  Messi played a large part in setting up the first goal for the Chilean sensation Alexis Sanchez.  He deftly possessed the ball and finally played an excellent through ball to Sanchez who slid one far post past Casillas.  Ronaldo on the other hand, did nothing to silence his critics.  He had two very good opportunities that he didn’t manage to put within the general vicinity of the goal.

(Messi to Sanchez)

It’s said over and over again, but Barcelona’s ability to possess the ball is unparalleled.  In this match their (Read: Valdes’) insistence to possess the ball in the back as opposed to clearing it upward got them into some troubling situations, giving up one goal and nearly a couple more.  However, that’s not to belittle the beauty of their play.  Today, against one of the top teams in the world Barca possessed the ball for 68% of the game.  What’s more impressive is this statistic is their average possession over the past two seasons.  Watching Barcelona play is similar to watching a Fifa-master toy around with a novice gamer.  I’m not sure how Real Madrid fans will feel about being compared to people that suck at playing Fifa but that’s how the game looked after the first 8 minutes today.  Maybe someday Madrid can be Fifa champs, but for now that title remains Barcelona’s.