El Clasico: Real Madrid vs Barcelona discussion

izzy wrote:Every single game-changing decision......

Every single small tackle.....

I'm not even gonna say anything anymore.

Ridiculous.

Agreed. And you would expect the home team to get a small advantage.

We got executed by the ref

We'll win the league by at least 6 points.

Too bad Neymar didn't leave the field with a shattered leg, but whatever.

Conceding 4 in Bernabeu. we could've concede 7 or 8.

good defence my ass. we should kick Ramos and Pepe out.

i don't care about the calls, yes the ref made errors, but these are to be expected in football....i'm tired of complaining about refs everytime. ramos is supposed to be the leader, organize the defense, call out players who are not in their correct position, and don't get in situations where u could get a card...i'm tired of ramos, how many big games have we lost thanks to his recklessness and absent mindedness.....back to the bigger picture; i keep saying we shouldn't get too excited about the elches and schalkes of this world cos against teams that know what they are doing, we hardly ever play to our strength and hardly impose our will... yes, i agree, top players will be marked in such games. but the opponents top players too should feel that pressure of being marked, but no, they use our defense to make and break all sorts of  records......forget about refs, if players want to achieve greatness they must look beyond the ref and control their own destiny, and be able to play their game against elite competition as well as scrub teams....hala madrid regardless

Ramos wasn't that bad, neither was Bale. Carvajal and Modric were by far our worst player. Benzema was bad too. Marcelo was great so was Pepe.

Hope someone kills the ref on his way home.

Valkyrja wrote:Ramos wasn't that bad, neither was Bale. Carvajal and Modric were by far our worst player. Benzema was bad too. Marcelo was great so was Pepe.

What?

Benzema was great, Bale looked out of his depth. It's not surprise that the team basically ignored his side for the first 30 mins of the game.

Valkyrja wrote:Ramos wasn't that bad, neither was Bale. Carvajal and Modric were by far our worst player. Benzema was bad too. Marcelo was great so was Pepe.

There is a parallel universe... i'm convinced now

Is this how a striker should finish ?

He missed some chances, he rectified some of it by scoring twice.

He was great, Him, Di Maria and CR basically played by themselves up front because Bale looked so out of his depth. They single covered Bale with Alba, that's how little they respect him.

CR was average as well.

Valkyrja wrote:

Is this how a striker should finish ?

is benzema the first striker you ever see miss a chance? your argument is irrelevant since he made up for it calma your getting annoying.

Sure he missed that one. But he scored 2 great goals and was a catalyst all game long. CR7 misses a ton btw... and Messi missed a one-on-one in this game too. It's getting yours and consistently impacting the game. You're going to miss. That's footy.

Remember also that Benz had to receive a cortizone shot today so that he could play without pain. Guess what happens with that... you can't really plant hard. You are forced to take stab shots. You could tell with his two early shot attempts from range: He couldn't get power into them at all.

chad4401 wrote:

Valkyrja wrote:

Is this how a striker should finish ?

is benzema the first striker you ever see miss a chance? your argument is irrelevant since he made up for it calma your getting annoying.

In games like this you have to take advantage from every mistake. Look at Cristiano, didn't have a good game, but when he had a chance he took it. For example, look at Mou's Inter. He had Milito who had 2 chances in the UCL final and took them. Do u expect Benzema to do the same ?

dude stop being butthurt cause cr flopped, no one other than trolls think benz had a bad game, but i know your used to benz getting the blame when we lose and you can't help yourself, its cool bro.

anyone placing any blame at benzema's feet is an idiot. strikers miss chances. my criticism of benzema in the past has been that he has hardly ever been in the right position, and is too passive....today he was neither, in fact him and di maria were the only players on our team that i thought did well (when we lose i can hardly call anyone's performance "great")...benzema maintained his style of play regardless of the fact we were playing barcelona and i applaud him for that....what i hate is when we go all maradona on scrub teams, but then an elite team comes and we cannot impose our will. benzema imposed his will....cristiano and bale did little or nothing all game, they were terrible today and benz outclassed them. And that defense is terrible, varane is better than pepe and ramos. its high time we got a center back, i know we all love ramos and all that good stuff, but that a defender with 19 red cards keeps starting is laughable, the guy is not hierro. hierro too got reckless at times, but he brought the best out of his defense partners, helguera and even pavon looked solid with hierro....next season our true captain should get his arm band back ( no disrespect to lope, but it is what it is)

In what world did Benzema played bad tonight?

He scored 2, linked up well, did great with the goal at his back and received the ball well in the middle.

LeVersacci wrote:Hope someone kills the ref on his way home.

For what? The only major mistake he did was award Ronaldo a penalty outside the box. Both penalties awarded to Barca were legit as was Ramos' card. Was a very entertaining game, why you gotta spoil it with ref complaining? And ok I may be a Barca supporter so you'd have reasons to doubt my objectivity but I'm pretty sure the commentators reached the same conclusions after watching all the replays as well.

I think what amazes me in this forum is people defend a player they like no matter how he played. May be it is love that is blind.

Messi missed a sitter after the first goal does it say that he had a bad game even after scoring thrice. Same goes to Benz. Poor guy more than made it up. He & Di Maria were our best players. Only Middle B out BBC showed up tonight. CR7 , except for the penalty didn't look dangerous.

Although Ramos was wrongly sent off , back four defense organization looked out of sorts even otherwise.

Midfield reminded me of semi-final against BVB, where we lost in the middle. Alonso & Modric partnership looked pedestrian.

people need to stop talking about the ref....the game was at the bernabeau. we lost, at some point, the players must look themselves in the mirror and ask more from themselves in these type of games. we haven't won any big game yet this season, complaining about the ref isn't what's going to change that....imo we overrated ourselves based on how we performed against less than stellar opposition, we need to tread more carefully and hope ramos and friends can keep their composure for 180 plus minutes in the champions league.....if not, next season we will be hoping and crying out those dreaded two words that frankly i've grown weary and tired of saying, 'la decima'

Stejo wrote:

LeVersacci wrote:Hope someone kills the ref on his way home.

For what? The only major mistake he did was award Ronaldo a penalty outside the box. Both penalties awarded to Barca were legit as was Ramos' card. Was a very entertaining game, why you gotta spoil it with ref complaining? And ok I may be a Barca supporter so you'd have reasons to doubt my objectivity but I'm pretty sure the commentators reached the same conclusions after watching all the replays as well.

Reported for Vitamin D deficiency.

Stejo wrote:

LeVersacci wrote:Hope someone kills the ref on his way home.

For what? The only major mistake he did was award Ronaldo a penalty outside the box. Both penalties awarded to Barca were legit as was Ramos' card. Was a very entertaining game, why you gotta spoil it with ref complaining? And ok I may be a Barca supporter so you'd have reasons to doubt my objectivity but I'm pretty sure the commentators reached the same conclusions after watching all the replays as well.

What channel was that? I heard both commentators on beIN sport saying otherwise. But again blaming ref's won't solve our problems. We could have done better.

Iniesta's goal could have been avoided if Bale had tracked back and kept his mark on him.

Messi's I think second or first whichever was the one scored through a confusion in our box where he just ran past all our defenders.

Also Benzema had a great game, what the hell is everyone saying he didnt?

*bleep* over by the ref. Every little thing. i give up sometimes. i really do

What was Alonso doing on that penalty? You can't just *bleep* run into somebody, this isn't Rugby ffs..

He had a similar penalty against Reus last year in the 4-1 loss.. Just straight ran into him

His motor skills are not up to par, needs to work on his agility

Ok I have calmed down. Will try and analyse this game

first half:

We started off very well in the first five minutes but were handed a sucker punch when Messi did his trademark left, left, left, slip a wonderful ball to an onrushing LF. It has happened so many times before I have lost count. Firstly Modric was on the other side of our defence. Why?? I'll never know, Alonso was another one that was far from the action so we were left with our four defrnders, facing Messi with the ball and two Barca players on either side, Carvajal decided to move closer to Pepe to prevent a ball being played between himself and Pepe and Messi passed it on the outside of Carvajal and Iniesta blasted the ball into the roof of the net. Could Lopez have done anything about that??? Don't think so

We then started having a spell of good football with Benzema missing an easy chance after DiMaria had done really well getting past three Barca players, skying it well over the bar

Messi then Missed an easy 1v1 he usually scores when he booted the ball past the post after being put through on goal

A couple of minutes later Benzema was to have his goal after a very good cross by DiMaria heading it past Valdez who should have done better. He added another just five minutes afterwards after again Dimaria played in a cross, don't know what Macherano was doing there and why he and Pique had swapped position

From now until the end of the half both teams had a couple of half chances and it looked like we would be going into the break one two one up But Messi had other ideas, he slipped Neymar through with a neat pass only for Neymar to fluff his lines and Messi took advantage of the situation strolling past the lot of them shootingan opportunistic strike that went in just inside the post. Could Lopez have done anything about that?? Well there were many players infront of him but he is a tall dude ffs. Not happy. Then happened something disgusting that Mou seems to have rubbed off to Pepe. After Cesc ran past him to get the ball Pepe provoked an unnecessary melee having thought Cesc pushed him with his shoulder. But even if he did it must have been the slightest of touches. Cesc and Pepe squared up to eachother and both fell to the ground like little sissies that would make Hart and Boyd cringe eith disgust. Busquets then proceeded to stamp on Pepes face, completely unnecessary and should not be happening in football, the reff didn't see it so understandable he didn't get a red

Second half saw Barca come out with intent pushing us back in our own half but we had the best chance of the second half till then after Pique cleared the ball of the line and then Dimaria being fouled in a dangerous position only for ronaldo to hit the wall for the umpteenth time this season. Possible handball?? no dont think so

After Barca lost the ball in midfield we countered and Ronaldo tripped after Alves had left a trailing leg but the foul was outside the box but we were given a penalty, maybe because of 'follow through' or because ronaldo fell inside the box

However, this wasn't the only controversial decision Mallenco was to make after Kesdi had played a beautiful ball between our cbs for Neymar to run onto and having gotten ahead of Ramos, Ramos stopped the chase, seeing Ramos behind him Neymar decided to fall theatrically pretending Ramos had prevented him from running further and Barca were awarded a penalty and Ramos red carded. After that we were trying to hold onto the draw and counter through Bale and Ronaldo but Barca would have the last laugh afyer Alonso clumsily took down Iniesta unnecessary (remember Dortmund) and Messi scored from the resulting penalty and none of our players had energy to try to get an equiliser.

ok our players:

Lopez 6: could have done nothing for the firzt goal but could have saved the second. I am so glad Iker plays CL imagine Lopez in a penalty shootout jumping 10 minutes after the player had already shot. Iker should get his spot back but thanks for your services Lopez

Carvajal 6.5: Some will undoubtedly blame him for the first goal but I believe he did it for a reason. Picked himself up from that and defended very well for the rest of the game

Pepe 7.5: our best defender on the night, rock solid, had some lasy ditch tackles Ramos could only dream of, I can't help but think if it was Pepe running vs Neymar for the penalty, either he would've beat him to the ball or he would've thrown him off the ball shoulder to shoulder

Ramos 6: Awful just awful, let players behind him on more than one occasion, was just an idiot running kicking around like a headless chicken for the second goal, and on top of that red carded, albeit not his fault but he always puts himself in those situations where Referee think red cards are justified for whatever reason

Marcelo 6: Like Carvajal defended his flank well, tracked a really good ball that beat our cbs kicking it to safety. But half thr blame of the penalty should go to him. Firstly he played Neymar onside secondly he failed to track Neymars run resulting in Ramos having to try to bail him out

Modric 5: Awful. Atleti, Bilbao, Barca, Juve he was shit in all of them. I am beginning to agree with Nick. Your typical scrub killer who has too many flaws to ever start for our team in big games

Alonso 5: Again like his partner he was shit, was second best in every duel, his passes were wayward, his long balls nothing better and tracked back like an injured turtle. Not happy.

DiMaria 8.5: Brilliant game by the best player in the world created nearly all chances we had, worked tirelessly in defence having to cover for Marcelo and the lack of tracking back from Ronaldo

Ronaldo 6: Not a very good game by him, scored a controversial penalty but seemed to get even the basics wrong such as ball control etc

Benz 8.5: Like Dimaria should be proud of his performance yesterday, ran, hustled, linked up with his team mates and scored. If we'd won I'd given him higher

Bale 6: Disappointing game from the welshman, you'd have thpught with even the most average winger running rings around him Bale would do the same but noo Alba won all one v ones with him. The only contributions to this game was that run and pass for Benz and his own shot after Benz had back heeled the ball to him. Very dissatisfied with him

Carlo 6: Not happy with him, chose the right team but it's like his tactics against big teams are to defend deep. We are not built to defend deep. When we press Valdez he booted it out of play when will he understand wr always do god gainst Barca by pressing high up the pitch. There was no intensity up front by anyone other than benz, at one occasion he gestured for them to move up and press with him. It's like we aren't instructed to do a particular job you know like starve Xavi, Pressure Pique. Our defending was just all over the place. The only reason we were better than them was because they are shit not because we were great. So I don't want to hear but but we could've won if not for the red card. That's nonsense. We should be putting heavy numbers past this barca team and concede very few but what do we see?? the other way round against a supposed 'best defensive unit in the country' Bale losing the ball everytime he takes on a player, Ronaldo likewise, Modric being in la la land, Xabi chasing shadows and only two players trying to do something. Carlos subs were awful and the tactics after the red card was being done with the wrong players. Benz was hauled off after Ramos sending off to make room for Varane, It should have Been bale who was anonymous on the night. We hoofed it up to Ronaldo when we got it, Ronaldo is not a target man. If those were the tacts he wanted to use he should have put on morata who is a target man. Secondly, He takes off the only player who seemed to be able to do something for Isco, Yet modric somehow stayed on. Alonso was not subbed eventhough he was having an awful game, Illarra has played these kind of games before so it's not like he would've been a stranger to the occasion. Morata came in in the last minute and sub that should have been done 10 mins earlier. Lastly his post presser was a disgrace, I hope thats just a media front and he scolds the players in private or else I'd be very worried

Team 4: Now against Atleti, Barca and Juve we have conceding no less than 2 goals in all those games. Very very poor from us. Have we been overrated for keeping clean sheets against scrubs??? I am not going to get too ahead of myself anymore even if we win 10-0 against Sevilla. We have amassed a grand total of 1 point in the league against our direct rivals thats poor and very tito like numbers. It seems as if Carlo has not sorted the left side issue, because this formation needs ronaldo to track back which he does not do. leaving Dimaria to do it leaving us exposed between himself, Alonso, Marcelo and Ramos, go look at all the goals we have conceded since 2014, I can guarantee you 89% have been from this side. And I hear things like I don't need my forwards to track back from Carlo it rages you to no end. Bale is doing the same on the other side but at least he tracks back sometimes. This needs to change pretty urgently if we are to win silverwaret his season


We are the underdogs in the Copa final. Barca can play how shit they want in scrub games but they will always have a more mentally tough display than our tame overpriced 'supetstars'. Imagine Jese yesterday, he would've made Alba work and been a nuisance for Marcherano and Pique. Oh well animo Jese