Saturday night was the 1st “clasico” of the Spanish league this season, the clashes between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid that have come to symbolize the centralist view of Spain vs the nation of countries espoused by many Catalans and that in the year have frequently become overheated on the pitch and spilled over into some pretty unpleasant scenes.
With FC Barcelona trailing Real Madrid by three points despite having played a further match thanks to having to play a match early thanks to the Club World Cup in Japan in December and Real Madrid having a unbelievable string of wins in a row it was looking as if Bara’s up to date stranglehold may not be so tight.
And having been widely criticised for his before and after match escapades, Madrid coach Jose Mourinho stayed silent on the subject of the forthcoming clash, having perhaps realized that his taunts and inflammatory behavior only appeared to make Barcelona’s determination all of the stronger.
Nevertheless in the 1st 25 seconds of the match something unexpected occurred and Real Madrid capitalised on a rare mistake by Victor Valdes allowing their enemy to score. This looked to be the kind of nightmare start a few of the people were fearing, not believing that it would be possible to beat Real Madrid once more in their home stadium.
This early shot across the bows from Madrid seemed to focus the minds of the Barcelona players are they soon got back onto winning form. The game angled in Barcelona’s favour and they were obviously outmanoeuvring Madrid despite some powerful and threatening looking counterattacks.
Barcelona equalised after 30 minutes and looked like they were more than back in the game. And in the second half they were soon in the lead to make winning seem like an increasingly likely option. When Barcelona’s 3rd goal was scored it was clear that Madrid couldn't match the brilliancy of Barcelona and despite being in robust form this season, still not in the same class.
Hence what now for Real Madrid? How do they regroup as this defeat by Barcelona will have seriously dented their confidence. He's already attempted 1 or 2 different methods to beat Barcelona but in the last eight encounters has won just once. So how will Jose Mourinho get ready for the subsequent clasico in April?
Part of the success of FC Barcelona is the youth training scheme. If you want to see them play order FC Barcelona tickets in advance and avoid disappointment.
