Barcelona had won, and in the end they had won convincingly. Mourinho was visibly dejected at the final whistle, 90 minutes after he’d theatrically knelt as he came out of the tunnel, and he had good reason to be. On home turf, the hosts were the only side with a 100% record in La Liga and a win against their fierce rivals would take their run of consecutive victories to 15 – the cusp of a new record. But the stats proved to be the oxymoron. The way the game started suggested Madrid would win; the 72 games that saw Madrid take the lead first, prior to the derby, did and the four games that Barcelona weren’t leading by half-time this season, did. They didn’t though and this could prove to be Guardiola’s most important El Clasico win, taking the momentum well and truly out of Real Madrid.
Before the game much of the hype was aimed at Los Galacticos: how they’d win and how Barcelona would stop them. The greater momentum was with Madrid and Mourinho was reveling in his season of judgement. This loss will hurt. It showed him up and it has shown Ronaldo up, just weeks before the winner of the Ballon d’Or is announced. Jose Mourinho has lost to Barcelona more than any other team, with eight defeats to the club that once served as his employer. Furthermore, Pep Guardiola has enjoyed eight victories over Los Blancos now; more than any other opponent he has faced.
Statistics become psychological barriers and Pep has just cleverly built another one.
The real damage will surface in the wake of the game, however. Before it, the two club’s catalysts were being pitted against one another once more and comparisons were hastily knocked up. Messi had 17 goals in 15 La Liga starts and 27 goals in all competitions and Ronaldo had 17 and a further 4 in all competitions. Messi had scored 207 times in 292 games for Barcelona and Ronaldo had scored 107 in 109. Neither scored in this El Clasico, but Messi came out on top and not just because he was on the winning side. He set-up Barcelona’s equaliser with a split moment of class, he was involved in the heart of the game, getting yellow carded in the process, and he played his part in everything fantastic about Barcelona.
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Ronaldo, once more, became a shadow of himself in a big game, squandering chances, failing to make an impact and frequently going missing. If Messi goes on to win a third consecutive Ballon d’Or, the media won’t even sniff in Cristiano’s direction and the plaudits will fall at Camp Nou’s player. Real Madrid cannot afford for their goal machine to disappear in the shadow of his much smaller La Liga counterpart.
Accolades become pyschological barriers and Messi just cleverly built another one.
Ultimately it is the two teams as wholes that will define where they go from here, but again, Barcelona have derailed Real Madrid like Messi has Ronaldo. They’ve brought their impressive streak to an end, they’ve closed the gap at the top and they’ve now beaten them seven times in their last eight meetings. The only Real Madrid victory was in the Copa Del Rey.
Barcelona were in danger of slipping behind their title rivals, but they’ve got the three points and they head to Japan for the Club World Cup. Their quest for another trophy starts with a semi-final tie on Thursday and Santos will be hoping they can meet Guardiola’s side in the final so another player can try and prove himself against Messi; Neymar.
When Real Madrid and Mourinho were at their most potent, Barcelona and Guardiola slayed them. This may well be Pep’s most significant El Clasico triumph.
Written by Jordan Florit for www.maycauseoffence.com/ For more articles visit my website or my Twitter @JordanFlorit
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