Real Madrid - FC Barcelona | La Liga Matchday 29 | Mar 23, 2013

Where can I watch the full game or an extend highlight version.

Again, why are you underrating our performance...

We created 4 chances in just the 1st 15-20 minutes.

1 goal for Iniesta
Messi chances 1 on 1
2 chances for Ney 1 on 1
Then Messi's goal, which was also created by himself pass to Ney who couldn't control the ball, rebound to Messi who finishes it...

Then both penalties were 1 on 1 chances, if not for the foul... BOTH legit and clear pens...

Also, Alves great shot which hit the post...

We clearly had more chances, had more possession and in an away game... Also their 3rd goal was referee mistake.

Their only good chances were between the 20th and 30th minute all for Benzema who got the better of Masche and scored twice. Other than that, they weren't that dangerous.

Valdes - very average game could of perhaps stopped Benzemas goal in which he touched? but eh not much could of been done about the rest, volley and penalty.

Dani Alves - every time Di Maria ran against him I expected the worst, offensively above average could of scored, did well dribbling forward and supplying Nerman / messi

Mascherano - his only job was to cover the center striker.. one he failed miserably.

Pique - Job was to stop Ronaldo and well guess what everyone is saying Ronaldo flopped so easy to say he did his job, also prevented Benzemas hat trick with last man clearance.

Alba - prevented Bale from doing anything so good day in his department, did well offensively got some men off Iniesta

Buscuit - was very solid as-well some good interceptions and helped make Modric's life uncomfortable

Xavi - marked Modric well, did good to transition the ball from defence to iniesta / neymar nothing very spectacular but did his job

Cesc - like everyone else said was meh for the whole game, did some amazing passes though.

Iniesta - MotM easily what a beast he is...

Neymar - meh game had his chances made up for it by getting ramos the red and penalty hope he didn't get injured??

Messi - I was ready to rip off my hair after his miss 1v1... made up for it classic Messi showing up when it really matters.

Cristi throwing a fit. The guy who got a PK for falling outside the box is complaining.

http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/1761484/furious-cristiano-ronaldo-blames-nervous-ref-mallenco-clasico-defeat?cc=5901

I disagree a draw was more just than the win. There was a penalty on Neymar in the first half and their penalty was outside the box. And we were the better team for most of the game. We deserved to win. Period.

Just rewatching the game.

Neymar is a clown. His defensive work was a disgrace. How he nonchalantly walks back when Madrid are breaking - unbelievable. Utter clown. Made Di Maria look like prime Garrincha. Shit mentality as well. Attempting circus tricks, backheels and whatnot at the wrong moments. And that shot in 19th minute. As much power as a fart. Clownmar. Fss.

a few points:

- Pique is a great defender. He needs a decent pair and he'll show it in every game. Mache is not a CB. End of story

- Ref was blind. too many bad calls for both sides

- Tata's line up was not based on football logic. Alexis/Pedro's speed energy was missed througout the game. Alves was constantly alone

- Neymar needs to start grasping the context of playing football in Europe

- Iniesta & Messi on their day can win games on their own

- Overall great win with both teams playing a great game. Don't let anyone tell u we didn't desrve it. Neymar should have won a penalty in the first half while Ronaldo's pen was out of the box.

With Messi and Iniesta on their top form, we can win anything and everyone, even without a coach.

You guys are being too harsh on Neymar.

He's meh on the right we all know that, if anything you should blame Tata for not giving him the platform to succeed by being out of position.

Neymar is disastrous since he got injured. Nothing to do with playing on the right or not. I only blame tata for playing him, not for playing him on the right.

Fair enough then, i have only seen this game and the City game so not seen him play on the left since injury.

For the goals...First Mascherano Is just not of the required height.Second I dont know really who to blame.Masche was positioned closer to try stop the cross getting into dangerous areas.Pique was marking Benz and then Benz moved a little to the near post and as you can see Pique clearly hesitated to follow him as he made a little step,I think he hesitated because Ronaldo wasnthere but he never looked at him so I'm not sure.Busquets was too late into the box so you could say it was partially his mistake as well.Third wasn't a pen.


Valdes 5.5/10:-Almost put that Header out,Should have done it.Very good distribution as usual,but here is what pisses me off about Valdes.He's clearly positioned closer to his right post but chooses to dive that way anyways,maybe he thinks he has no chance if Benz shoots the other way but that's no excuse.Good save from Benz later on.
Alves 4/10:-
Just horrible.Ronaldo raped him in the first few mins when he tried and Di Maria kept raping him. Both goals from his flank as well and made the foul for the pen(I know it wasn't a pen but he just got so easily beaten)Would have been 3 except for his thunderous shot.I have this theory that Alves only plays well when Bald.Thought he's been very good in the past few weeks.
Masche 5/10:-Amazing distribution,which IMO is far better than Pique (Like how he doesn't panic and gives the ball back to Valdes all the time)But it's time to go.
Pique 6.5/10:
Didnt really have much to deal with,But dodnt dissapoint 1 vs 1.Amazing goal line clearance but perhaps the second golaso was his mistake.Him panicking and giving the ball back to Valdes a hundred times per game pisses me off though.
Alba 6.5/10:Meh.Clean game.Bale got past him like two times but he owned him mostly.Didnt like how he didnt jump in the play which Pique cleared from the goalline.
Busi:-6/10 Very good at Passing,but still dont like his defensive contribution at ALL.Disgraceful if he intentionally stepped on Pepe.
Xavi 8/10:- Thought he didnt put a foot wrong all night.Very good pressing.
Cesc 6.5/10:- Very good final passes-Probs deserves a 7 but my hate is clouding me:-Still slow and unathletic though as *bleep*.
Iniesta 9/10:- Oh Ini why can't you do this every week.Can't believe he's scored in consecutive weeks amd both with his left and both absolute crackers.Won the Pen and retained his title of Magico.
Messi 9.5/10:-Half a point away due to that Miss which would have killed the game off.But absolutely impressive.When him and Ini are in top form you just cant do anything.
Neymar 4/10:- Just shit.Where's his pace and power and skills since the injury.Doesnt help that Shata puts him on the right.
Subs:Pedro backpass,I didnt actually see Alexis touch the ball except in an offside position.Both maybe should have started on theor form but with what they showed maybe it was best they stayed on the bench.

Lastly,think Tata puts one extra midfielder cuz we dont press as well and he thinks one more Mid gives us more control(Or atleast zi hope that is it)

Interesting game tactically.First off Alexis should have started.I can excuse Neymar for his poor offensive contribution but cant excuse him for not helping out defensively.Left Alves exposed and double teamed all the time he was on.Had Alexis played I bet we would have contained them much better.
Di Maria's game was interesting.I dont watch Madrid a lot but his role is curious.Technically he plays as a midfielder but with the ball he mostly played as a winger,hugging the touchline and taking Alves on.CR went inside and Di Maria went wide leaving Modric and Alonso in midfield.He was also the one tracking back on the wings.
He could also be seen in midfield.
I think him playing that way confused us and thats why they created a lot of chances that way.But it helped us in a way.Di Maria going wide meant that they had just 2 in midfield and we were able to control the middle.

dani might recall us talking about Alves doing a similar role for us. Play in midfield but also provide width down the flank.Felt Di Maria did something similar.

alexjanosik wrote:Interesting game tactically.First off Alexis should have started.I can excuse Neymar for his poor offensive contribution but cant excuse him for not helping out defensively.Left Alves exposed and double teamed all the time he was on.Had Alexis played I bet we would have contained them much better.
Di Maria's game was interesting.I dont watch Madrid a lot but his role is curious.Technically he plays as a midfielder but with the ball he mostly played as a winger,hugging the touchline and taking Alves on.CR went inside and Di Maria went wide leaving Modric and Alonso in midfield.He was also the one tracking back on the wings.
He could also be seen in midfield.
I think him playing that way confused us and thats why they created a lot of chances that way.But it helped us in a way.Di Maria going wide meant that they had just 2 in midfield and we were able to control the middle.

dani might recall us talking about Alves doing a similar role for us. Play in midfield but also provide width down the flank.Felt Di Maria did something similar.

Before I state, Di Maria has been fantastic in his central midfield role. Yet Di Maria naturally, is a wide player, to which means you have the tendencies of a wide player. In essence, while traversing through the middle and if he spots space on the left hand, he will be compelled to drift wide, afford him further space to cross with his left foot (given he lacks any right-foot) as naturally wide players feel more comfortable when hugging the touchline. Yes he did play an inside forward role on the right yet there will always be a difference in cutting outside with your left and cutting inside with your left.

Was it ordered by Ancelotti? Well Di Maria's drifts outwide allowed Ronaldo to run off-the-ball inside towards the box, stretching out markers and creating natural width.

Ancelotti pulled a similar move with Yuri Zhirkov in Chelsea and Lucas Moura in PSG (though from an advanced role).

Why Alexis and not Pedro should have started? Pedro was flawless when he came in.

Extremely happy with the win of cos After they went 2-1 so easily I feared the worst. But we showed just how good we are and proved doubters including some of our own fans wrong!

Messi and Iniesta and Xavi, still the gods. Our defense are still quite shit and we had some bad moments, but overall showed we can still do it vs the top team

Title race back on baby WOOOO HOOOOO!

Stejo wrote:

free_cat wrote:
That's very untrue. Cesc surely was not at Iniesta's leve and slightly worse than Xavi, but he did things. He delivered two great balls to Neymar that he squandered at the begining of the game. He also contributed in the build up of Iniesta's goal with a very nice between the lines pass to Messi that Xavi probably wouldn't have tried.

Came home a bit late and missed the first few mins of the game, caught it just as Iniesta was scoring, so if he had some good stuff at the opening ok, but for the next hour that I watched him I can't really recall anything worth mentioning. Anyway, he wasn't exactly terrible but it was obvious we needed Alexis in his place for the speed. Quite a few times he would receive a ball in space and just couldn't reach it fast enough.

And thats how it is, I think Cesc is asked to do a lot of the defending and dirty work in these big games to make it a midfield 4 like as to allow Messi and Neymar not defend for the most part. Cesc is a work horse in these games and despite that we sometimes expect him to make key passes and assists which is a bit much I think. He should be given more credit as, I must have said this like 10 times on this forum   

yesterday Mascherano really really embarassing.
It's sad to see one of best DM  sucking because he doesn't play in his role . An awful idea born by Guardiola and revived in future.
wasted player to Barcellona , saving private Javier.

free_cat wrote:Why Alexis and not Pedro should have started? Pedro was flawless when he came in.

By flawless, you mean, he made no mistake? Your correct, because he didnt do anything.

Di Maria did that exact role for 3 years for Benfica, their 442 diamond demanded this of him and he was perfect for it.

Not sure I agree. Back then he was a primarily offensive player, today his defensive contribution is just as valuable as his offensive one. I remember when he talked about the 2010 WC one of his quotes was "I had to learn how to defend in the one month before the WC to play where Maradona wanted me to" (paraphrased). Mourinho in this aspect took his bulldog hard work and gave him the basics to become much more complete.

He worked very hard defensively then too, the only difference I see now is he plays with better players...so naturally he isnt as crucial or the primary offensive player as you say.

Perhaps he is more intelligent now, but the effort was always there.

And my main point was his role with Benfica was exactly the same. He defended the middle, but then attacked the wing.

Most of Di Maria's action could have been avoided if Neymar actually bothered to defend. I wonder if he didn't because he was still lacking match fitness or because he's feeling comfortable now in the squad and doesn't apply himself anymore as he did in the beginning when he was still new. Leaving Alves alone against Marcelo, Di Maria and Ronaldo was a cluster*bleep* from him.

free_cat wrote:
With Messi and Iniesta on their top form, we can win anything and everyone, even without a coach.

Pito had some special powers then  

The Franchise wrote:

free_cat wrote:Why Alexis and not Pedro should have started? Pedro was flawless when he came in.

By flawless, you mean, he made no mistake? Your correct, because he didnt do anything.

Pedro was extremely solid in his twenty minutes. He didn't put a foot wrong, launched a counter attack after dribling alonso , made a vital tackle,  and provided a backheel pass to Alba in the box to create a chance. Flawless and far from doing nothing.

danyjr wrote:

free_cat wrote:
With Messi and Iniesta on their top form, we can win anything and everyone, even without a coach.

Pito had some special powers then  

Refresh my memory here, wasn't messi injured for the last quarter of the season when we lost the two titles we didn't win?

Also: can =/= will