Wasteful Madrid fails to punish an off-colour Barça

The first 'Clasico' of the season is behind us. Here are my thoughts on the game

1. As the title suggests, Real Madrid missed a golden opportunity to beat an off-colour and off-pace Barcelona playing with a lot of players with either little are no preseason action.
2. Real Madrid started brightly with a very high tempo and pressing Barça asphyxiating them.
3. Barça started without Xavi, Pique, Busquets and Puyol. And surprised everyone with Alexis in the starting lineup. My theory on this is that, Pep started the eleven that he thought had the best chance to last 90 minutes.
   
4. It was only a matter of time before Real Madrid went ahead with the beautiful inter play between Özil and Benzema with the former scoring from assist from the former
5. After taking the lead around the 20th min, Madrid took the foot off the pedal, inexplicably.
6. Barça didnt have a shot on goal until David Villa curled an absolutely unstoppable right footer from the edge of the box on the left side.
7. While the game started without incident, it has gotten nastier as the time passed by with the tackles getting more rough and at times reckless after the equalizer.
8. The ref had a decent game in the first half, although he should have given a yellow or two for both sides.
9. Barça continued having problems in controlling the game and Madrid had various opportunities to go ahead.
10. Until the 45th minute when Messi in his first meaningful contribution to the game left Pepe and a few others in their wake and slotted in the 2nd.
    
11. 1-2 half-time, surprise scoreline because Madrid completely dominated the half with ample chances. Valdes was sharp and Benzema, not as much.
12. Barça started the 2nd half much better than the 1st half but Madrid equalized very soon through a well placed shot by Xabi Alonso
13. From here on the game got worse in terms of discipline. More cheap fouls, exaggerated reactions..the usual nastiness that accompanied the Clasicos of last season.
    
14. Both teams had a good penalty shout denied in the process.
15. Every foul is protested by everyone, even the throw-in decisions were not accepted without a protest.
    
16. The referee Texeira Vitienes lost control of the game at this point. Had he shown the early yellow cards in the first half, it would have been a different story.
    
17. Madrid created numerous chances again but failed to finish them off against a superhero-esque Victor Valdes.
18. Barça looked slightly better with Xavi, Pique and Pedro coming on in the 2nd half but Messi looked rusty.
    
19. Alexis had a great debut considering that he is playing just after two practice sessions with Barcelona.
20. Coentrão looked lively in the 15-20 minutes he played but by then both teams were in chaos as far as formations are concerned, a typical phenomenon in the dying moments of the early season games.
    
21. In the end, Barça will be more happy with the result than Real Madrid.
    
22. Madrid needs to try and win in Camp Nou and Barça can lift the cup with a 0-0 or even 1-1.
23. Mourinho excused himself from the presser and consequently the media is talking about this more than the great game overall from Real Madrid. Unfortunate but somethings dont change.
24. It will be interesting if Madrid can play another full press at Camp Nou where the pitch is wider and Barça will start with more regulars and with more minutes of practice.
    

Man of the Match Real Madrid : Özil
Man of the Match Barcelona : Victor Valdes

2nd leg in Camp Nou on Aug-17 at 2300 CET 1700 Eastern/1400 Pacific

Eduardo Alvarez from ESPN Soccernet: Podcast#160

In this pod we have a special guest, Eduardo Alvarez of ESPN Soccernet from Brazil. Eduardo discusses all the current topics of La Liga and as usual, gives his insightful view points. You may read Eduardo's weekly columns on ESPN Soccernet.

Listen, enjoy and let us know what do you think about it.

Download this episode (right click and save)

Segment#1 16min

1. The impact of the 'Big Two' stockpiling talent and turning into factories of loans.
2. Why do they prefer to have a Hamit Altintop in the squad rather than a canterano.
3. The cases of Sergio Canales and Oriol Romeu.
4. Can Barcelona survive without any new signings on the defence and solely depending on the cantera?

Segment#2 24min

1. The madness of the new kick-off times of La Liga and if this will be a successful move for LFP.
2. Ley Concursal: The financial mess in La Liga.
3. Why the financial fair-play code of UEFA wont have the desired effect on the Spanish clubs.
4. The nefarious business of powerful agents like Jorge Mendes and how they are making matters worse for running football business.
5. The uncanny similarities between the the causes for the economic meltdown of 08/09 and football in general and spanish football in particular.

Segment #3 24 min

1. Eduardo covered the recently concluded Copa America extensively. He talks about the performance of Diego Forlán and the rest of La Liga players
2. The summer of discontent between Forlán and Atlético
3. He also touched upon some promising youngsters like Adrián Luna (Espanyol) and James Rodriguez (Porto)
4. We round off the show with some La Liga small talk: The Basque teams, Bielsa, Málaga, Super Cup
5. Eduardo gives us his Top 5 and the relegation candidates for the upcoming season