Yet another Classico was marred by ugly scenes at the end of the game following an otherwise entertaining, free flowing match. With the first leg ending 2 – 2 everything was to play for at the Nou Camp and both sides set out to attack.
Mourinho chose to play Pepe and Carvalho as his centre backs and not employ the former as a defensive midfielder as we have seen in previous Classicos, and left Marcello on the bench in place of new signing Coentrao. This proved to be somewhat of a mistake, as the young left back was the source of many of the Barcelona attacks, with winger Pedro giving Coentrao a torrid time.
The reigning Champions left new signings Fabregas and Alexis on the bench, starting with the lineup that ran rings around United in the Champion’s league final last May – showing the sheer strength they have in their squad, something that is slightly questionable when looking at Real Madrid, who despite Mourinho’s insistence that no more players will be arriving, look short in a couple of positions.
Barca drew first blood through an assist from Messi, with the Argentinian sublime all evening, leading to a goal for Iniesta. His rival for best player in the world, Cristiano Ronaldo looked somewhat quiet up until the first Madrid goal, but scored a somewhat dubious goal for the equaliser. Just before half time, Barca as in the first leg, went into the break ahead courtesy of beautiful play from Pique and Messi.
The special one, clearly having noted the fact most of the attacks against Los Blancos were coming down the left put Marcello on in place of Sami Kedheira and moved utility man Coentrao into midfield. Higuian and Kaka were soon introduced into the mix, with Di Maria and Ozil being replaced having put in a hard shift pressing for the ball in the centre of the park. Almost immediately this paid dividends, with Real looking sharper and more likely to score, finally doing so via the impressive Benzema with less than ten minutes left, and looked to have taken the game to extra time.
Yet Guardiola had made changes of his own, putting new boy Alexis on in place of David Villa and introducing Fabregas to the loudest cheer of the night. The two subs were creators of the winning goal on the 87th minute scored by Leo Messi effectively handing the Copa to Barcelona.
Great match, 2 best sides in the world at the moment. Messi is the difference. Special One out of order at the end. Continued racism a BIG worry and SHAME for Spanish Footy. Spanish FA GET IT SORTED NOW, PLAYERS GET IT SORTED NOW, FANS ET IT SORTED NOW.
CANNOT WAIT for the next round of EL CLASSICOS