Barcelona 1 Real Madrid 1:BARCELONA DEFENDER Eric Abidal returned to the playing field during last night's draw against Real Madrid at Camp Nou for the first time since undergoing surgery on a liver tumour.
THE LAST instalment of a four-match, 18-day scorpion dance that became nastier by the day was a proper contest in which Real Madrid recovered their attacking instincts but Barcelona advanced to a probable meeting with Manchester United in the Champions League final at Wembley.
Histrionics, allegations of racism and propaganda onslaughts were put aside for 90 minutes as a lightning pass on a thundery night from Andres Iniesta set up Pedro Rodriguez to extend Barcelona’s 2-0 first-leg lead before Marcelo replied for Madrid. The Real full-back’s subsequent sliding tackle on Lionel Messi might have drawn a fifth consecutive red card for Jose Mourinho’s team in these clasicos but this time they managed to finish with 11 players, despite picking up five yellow cards in a game with less spite and thespianism than last week’s lamentable first leg.
So Barcelona are coming to London and United are within 90 minutes of earning a shot at revenge for the 2009 defeat in Rome. Messi, who withstood numerous robust challenges from Real defenders, remains the biggest danger but Xavi and Iniesta will also threaten to put United back on the “carousel” – Alex Ferguson’s colourful phrase to describe the Barcelona passing pattern.
When the Real team coach rolled up to the door, Mourinho was not among its passengers. His punishment for being sent to the stands in last week’s first leg was a touchline ban at his old place of work, where he has gone from “Translator” to anti-Christ. He missed a fine contest.
Barcelona say they offered him a perch in the presidential box, but its proximity to seats from where Barca supporters might have abused him probably persuaded the Real manager his hotel room was a better bet. Many Real fans also judged the sofa to be a better bet, judging by the empty seats in the small Madrid enclosure, just below the heavens, in this vast arena. In a climactic embellishment almost too corny to mention, the city shook with thunder and stair-rod rain turned the pitch splashy.
Already two goals down from the home game, Mourinho was forced to abandon the hedgehog formation that had so offended Real Madrid purists in the Bernabeu. Out went Mesut Ozil, who is showing signs of wear at the end of his first season in La Liga, and in came Kaka, in place of the suspended Pepe, and Gonzalo Higuain, chosen ahead of Emmanuel Adebayor. On the bench for Barca was Eric Abidal, who had surgery in March to remove a tumour from his liver.
To appease Real Madrid, Uefa sent the refereeing godfather, Pierluigi Collina, to oversee the performance of Franck De Bleeckere, the Belgian official picked out by Mourinho as one of the five who had delivered major decisions against his teams.
Uefa’s thinking was that De Bleeckere would be less likely to indulge any subconscious resentment against Mourinho for that criticism with his boss looking down from the stands. And who would dare risk Collina’s displeasure? De Bleeckere’s first significant act was to book Ricardo Carvalho after 12 minutes for a trip on Messi as the world’s best player was in full flight. But if the foul suggested a repeat of Madrid’s strong-arm tactics last week, their formation was more positive and their movement more dynamic. An exhilarating first half of sweeping counterattacks brought Messi to the fore around the half-hour mark, as the scorer of 52 goals thus far worked his way into goalscoring positions with exquisite footwork, and Iker Casillas was drawn into a succession of acrobatic saves to deny Barcelona.
This was Barcelona at their rhythmic best, and Real were back in survival mode, save for an enterprising breakout by Ronaldo, who almost found Higuain with a flat, curling cross.
After the break latent tensions from the first leg resurfaced, Barca’s players again began exaggerating the impact of tackles. With Pedro’s sharply dispatched finish on 53 minutes, Real went for broke, sending on Adebayor in place of Higuain and withdrawing Kaka, the game’s third most expensive player, who has yet to recover his old potency after a long run of infirmities.
On came Ozil, and at 3-0 down on aggregate Real finally found the net when Angel Di Maria’s blast struck the post and he diverted the rebound to Marcelo for a simple tap-in.
It was time for Mourinho to reach for the hotel scribbling pad to plan for the future and Barcelona to celebrate their superiority in a four-game series that threatened to relocate to the politics pages and leaves a mountain of disciplinary issues still to be tackled.
BARCELONA: Valdes, Dani Alves, Mascherano, Pique, Puyol (Abidal 90), Xavi, Busquets, Iniesta, Villa (Keita 74), Messi, Pedro (Afellay 90). Subs Not Used: Olazabal, Jeffren, Fontas, Thiago. Booked: Pedro.
REAL MADRID: Casillas, Arbeloa, Carvalho, Albiol, Marcelo, Diarra, Alonso, Ronaldo, Kaka (Ozil 60), Di Maria, Higuain (Adebayor 55). Subs Not Used: Dudek, Benzema, Granero, Garay, Nacho. Booked: Carvalho, Diarra, Alonso, Marcelo, Adebayor.
Ref eree: Frank De Bleeckere (Belgium).
(Barcelona win 3-1 on aggregate)
Abidal makes emotional return after cancer surgery
The 31-year-old France international had been sidelined since mid-March and was a surprise inclusion in the squad for the second leg of the semi-final.
Abidal received a loud ovation from the home fans when he replaced captain Carles Puyol during injury time at the end of the game.
Abidal has been a key player for Barcelona since joining from Lyon in 2007, helping the Catalan club to eight major trophies.
We have to lift our heads up and be proud, Real captain Iker Casillas said in an interview with Spanish television as the Barca players celebrated wildly, throwing Abidal skywards in celebration on the pitch.
"Anything we say now could be used against us," he added, referring to the bad blood that boiled up between the two teams in recent weeks.
