Real Madrid-Barcelona Barça returns, Madrid leaves

The first time that Zidane visited the Camp Nou, that Madrid inherited from Benítez was ten points behind Barça eight days from the end. That night’s victory was not enough for him to win the title, although the fight lasted until the final day, but Real Madrid understood that there was a future, that the changing of the guard was near. It was a victory for the future, like the one Xavi’s team achieved at the Bernabéu this Sunday. The bizarre solution that Ancelotti came up with to replace Benzema left a defenseless Madrid against a shirtless Barça, with the intention of returning to his imperial era. It was an outrage for the memory, surely with a greater impact on the culé’s self-esteem than in the final classification, butor Madrid should serve as a warning for the summer. With your bench you can go outside.

There was a lot of bandaging before the injury in the lineups. Ancelotti sheltered Benzema’s loss with a lung midfielder, Valverde, even at the cost of leaving Modric as a false nine! After the defeat in Cornellà, he swore that he would not go back to 4-4-2… and fulfilled his own way with a catastrophic decision. The first of many. Perhaps he thought of a distraction maneuver, because the Croatian was intermittently changing the role to Valverde. It was a complete disaster. Madrid lost a forward and a midfielder in the same movement. The dramatic conclusion is that the team needs two Modrics. Xavi was attacked by caution on the right. Alves thought it was little to cover Viniciusthe great asset of Madrid, and placed Araújo there, the best sentinel of his squad.

So much preventive medicine soon came to nothing, because Madrid thought they had found the game that suited them, that of vertigo and spaces. Crazy. Barça’s bet is extreme. Everything happens to steal soon and up. If that border doesn’t work, it goes into a loss. He spent ten minutes and that’s where Vinicius and Rodrygo’s Madrid looked for him. The white storm (black this time) against the fine Barça rain (four-barred for the occasion). A mirage before the bath.

start the dance

Before the first quarter of an hour there were as many occasions as in half a dozen tactical classics. Rodrygo shot to the side of the net, Ter Stegen took one from Valverde, Courtois two from Aubameyang and Dembélé, Ferran missed a span in a thread… The rhythm was that of overtime in the Cup final, without exaggeration. And with three footballers having a hard time: Carvajal, off point, unable to hold Ferran Torres; Araujo, a victim of Vinicius’ speed, and Nacho, an invisible barrier against Dembélé.

The situation invited to loosen up because one and the other had little to lose, but things calmed down. That tilted the field against Courtois and this is how Modric understood it, who began to delay to apply himself when the ball came out.

He was in those when Barça took advantage. It was at a start for Dembélé, that there are days when it is a tailwind and other days it is a headwind. He left Nacho behind and his cross was headed by Aubameyang at the near post. Alaba could do more. Madrid had let their moment pass and Barça, no.

The goal definitively took Madrid out of the point, subdued by Barça’s touch game. A culé domain nothing theatrical, because each arrival culminated in a shot or the like. Only once did Madrid leave that cage. vinicius he stayed in front of Ter Stegen in the race and the swimming pool prevailed over the auction. Barça was so superior that they even managed on a very Madrid terrain: set pieces. That’s where the second goal came, when Araújo finished off a corner between the two Madrid center-backs, also an active part of the disbandment.

the total disaster

The remedy was worse than the disease. Ancelotti retired Carvajal and Kroos, brought in Camavinga and Mariano, left a defense of three… and all the doors were open to a landslide. The first thing that was known after the break was that Ferran failed the incredible against Courtois and that he redeemed himself a second later with a heel assist from Aubameyang. It was a Madrid in a harakiri versionexposed to one of those beatings that Barcelona fans wave like flags for decades (0-5 of 74, 2-6 of 2009).

The defense of three lasted three minutes. Casemiro became central after the 0-3. The effect was immediate: Barça’s fourth goal, Aubameyang’s second, who had denied him an assistant and granted him the VAR.

Each decision by Ancelotti, who corrected himself, further opened the wound. And the team’s bullfighter embarrassment didn’t help either. In his attempt to cover up the disaster, he uncovered more frequently behind. And Barça, who celebrated until each dispute won, arrived without opposition against Courtois, the best in Madrid. That was the size of the dance.

In the last twenty minutes Madrid was abandoned and Barça’s forces abandoned him. It was then a ghost game, with half a stadium already empty. Xavi’s team had more than paid off its debt and can even fantasize about the League. And Madrid, in mourning even in uniform, left with a gap in the spirit of unforeseeable consequences. Defeats like this sting a lot in the box. Ancelotti is warned.