Real Madrid 0 Barcelona 2:THERE WAS fighting and faking but not much football. Not, that is, until the 88th minute when Lionel Messi scored a truly wonderful goal to give Barcelona a huge lead in this European Cup semi-final. Dashing past five players, he sprinted into the Real Madrid penalty area and slipped the ball past Iker Casillas to double the lead.
At last a moment that graced this occasion, at last a piece of skill that sat well with the two strongest clubs on the planet. All that anger finally gave way to a moment of awe.
This is a daunting task for Jose Mourinho’s side now. They must travel to the Camp Nou and score at least twice and they must do so without their coach, who will be suspended. Not only was Pepe sent off here – the fourth Real Madrid player to get a red card in four clasicos this season – so was the manager. As for Barcelona, they had the substitute goalkeeper Pinto sent off too as tempers flared. When Mourinho and Pepe departed, it was 0-0 – more evidence for the black legend the coach has constructed around his opponents.
Again, he would cite extenuating circumstances and again his side were down to 10 men against Barcelona. Whether that was the difference here will be debated for the next week and beyond. What will not is the quality of Messi’s goal – his second of a fractious night. Perhaps he was faced by a less populous defence but he still had five men to evade before he could stand before the Barcelona fans, celebrating the goal that could be the key to Barcelona to grasp the biggest prize this series has to offer.
Things had not started well for Barcelona, either, with the late withdrawal of Andress Iniesta and the tension of the pre-match press conferences. But rather than losing the plot, Guardiola may well be hailed as knowing a thing or two about mind-games himself now – even if the reality was that this game was settled elsewhere, not in the press room where Mourinho is, in the Barcelona manager’s words, the “puto amo”.
There had been pressure before the game and there was pressure from the start too – from both sides. Soon Barcelona settled into a routine of dominating possession. On the quarter-hour mark they had enjoyed 83 per cent of the ball. Except that “enjoy” might not have been the word. As Barcelona passed and passed and then passed again, Madrid simply waited, happy to forfeit the ball but not territory. And while Real Madrid felt that they had largely kept Barcelona at a safe distance, there were opportunities.
David Villa cut inside and struck a shot fractionally wide of Iker Casillas’s right-hand post on 10 minutes. And 13 minutes later, the opening period’s best chance fell to Xavi. A wonderful reverse pass from Messi found him dashing into the area but Casillas was out sharply to block the shot. Madrid’s response was largely limited to long range efforts and winning free-kicks, corners and throws, Pepe heading one harmlessly down, until Valdes was called into action right on the stroke of half time, pushing away a Ronaldo shot and having to block the offside Mesut Ozil’s follow-up.
The trouble in the tunnel at the end of the first half was not evident at the start of the second – Barcelona came out early and, in a role reversal, waited for Madrid. When they came out there had been a change – Adebayor was on and gave them a target to hit.
But it was a different target that came to the fore: Dani Alves’s knee. Pepe launched studs-first into a challenge on the right back, who crumpled on to the turf, and the referee, Wolfgang Stark, had no hesitation in taking out his red card.
Madrid felt that while a card could be justified, its colour could not. Puyol’s discussion with Mourinho suggested he might have agreed. Mourinho sarcastically clapped Alves and another red card followed – this time for the coach himself. The pitch and noise rose a notch.
Mourinho, who had pleaded for the chance to play Barcelona with 11 men, now had a narrative but not the situation he wanted. Nor, though, did Barcelona have the lead. Villa’s shot was parried by Casillas and Pedro was stretching and could not quite get into a position to head goalwards. A moment later he was withdrawn, replaced by Ibrahim Affelay. Few could have imagined the impact he would have.
Messi ran at the Madrid defence and when his progress was curtailed, smuggled the ball to Xavi, who fed the substitute on the right. He dashed past Marcelo and delivered a low ball towards the near post, where the Argentinian got ahead of his marker to nudge the ball past Casillas on the volley. This saga, though, still had a chapter remaining – and another moment from Messi, this time a magical one.
REAL MADRID: Casillas, Arbeloa, Sergio Ramos, Albiol, Marcelo, Alonso, Pepe, Diarra, Ozil (Adebayor 46), Ronaldo, Di Maria. Subs not used: Adan, Kaka, Benzema, Granero, Garay, Higuain. Booked: Arbeloa, Sergio Ramos, Adebayor.
BARCELONA: Valdes, Dani Alves, Pique, Busquets, Puyol, Xavi, Mascherano, Keita, Pedro (Afellay 71), Messi, Villa (Roberto 90). Subs not used: Pinto, Jeffren, Milito, Fontas, Thiago. Booked: Dani Alves, Mascherano.
Referee: Wolfgang Stark (Germany).
