All eyes will be on the clash between Barcelona and Real Madrid with the magnificent Camp Nou playing host to this top of the table meeting of the eternal rivals. Without disregarding or belittling the history behind this intense rivalry which extends beyond the football pitch to engulf social and political agendas, millions of people in Spain and around the world will be concentrating on what will happen on the field with the great talents such as Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Lionel Messi taking on Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo, Gonzalo Higuain and Mesut Özil.

Barcelona have won the last four matches, including a 2-0 win in Madrid last season which practically sealed the title for the Catalans. The Ronaldo versus Messi show never developed into an enticing scenario as the first match in Barcelona was decided by Zlatan Ibrahimovic, currently with Milan, while the win in Madrid saw Messi and Perdo score the two goals. In 160 La Liga matches, Los Galacticos have the edge with 68 wins compared to 62 by Barca while the two sides were forced to settle for a draw in 30 other games.

This first clash between the two giants of Spanish football will be important on more than one front. Barca are current La Liga champions while Real have hired Jose Mourinho, a season after achieving a historic treble with Inter, in order to regain the league title and challenge for the Champions League. The winner from this match will be on top of the league standings and will earn a massive morale boost as the players from the victorious team will probably go on to win matches until the two sides meet again in the return fixture.

Los Blancos are currently on top a single point above Barca and have yet to lose this season. Real have won four of their away games while drawing the other two. Interesting enough, Barca have lost once this season and it was at home while they also drew another game at the Camp Nou. Barcelona are perfect away from home but this could be explained by the fact all teams visiting the Camp Nou tend to opt for an ultra defensive strategy, have all their players chase the ball and attempt to snatch a famous draw.

La Liga has become a two-horse race between the two giants as the competing teams have had to settle for the positions starting with third place and going all the way down to the relegation zone. The closest team to Barca, who are in second place, is already seven points behind while last season Real, who finished in second, were a stunning 25 points ahead of the third team in La Liga. This increases importance of this match since the winner will likely gain momentum and continue to have the edge in the standings until the two teams meet again.

Both teams have scored 33 goals but Real’s defensive line has conceded less and this could be further evidence of the influence coach Jose Mourinho has on the Madrid club. The Portuguese coach has won titles with Inter and Chelsea by restricting opponents, relying on a solid defensive line and having a strong group ethic. Barca’s top scorer is Messi with his 13 goals but Ronaldo has managed to find the back of the net 14 times in La Liga. Both stars have astonishing numbers. It remains to be seen how the two key players will perform on this big stage.

Could Messi or Ronaldo tip the match’s balance to lead their club to victory or will someone else decide the match? It would not be a surprise to see both clubs end the match with a high scoring tie since the two teams have a number of players who can score goals such as David Villa and Karim Benzema among others. Regardless of who wins the game, seeing Messi and Ronaldo clash will be quite enticing despite the fact the two will not really face each other due to their position with their respective team (Check http://www.laligatalk.com/messi-versus-ronaldo/1881 for a previous analysis on Messi & C. Ronaldo).

When Spain fell to the hands of Switzerland in the opening match of World Cup 2010, the vultures suddenly appeared from the sky and circled around their “dying” carcass.  No team has ever won the World Cup after losing its first match.  The ghosts from yesteryear are rising from the dead and haunting this current team about their ancestors’ past failures.  Previous entrenador Luis Aragonés ranted about Vicente del Bosque and indirectly undermined most of what Vicente del Bosque has done with this team.  Although Spain has only made it to the quarterfinals after defeating 1-0 over Portugal in Cape Town yesterday, La Furia Roja’s form suggests that rising to the occasion will not be the same problem as it has in previous international competitions.

Spain’s only injury concern before their match against Portugal was Xabi Alonso’s sprained ankle he suffered against Chile, but del Bosque slotted him in the center of midfield after passing a late fitness test.  Del Bosque saw no reason to change his starting eleven, but if he had any reservations about one of his players, it would have been Fernando Torres because of his erratic play in the group stage.

99% of the time, Torres would be an automatic starter, but still recovering from knee surgery in April, his lack of match sharpness became painfully obvious in his starts against Honduras and Chile when his first touch disappeared on him on numerous occasions, and his finishing would have the usual Nike T90 ball well off target, much less the unpredictable Adidas Jabulani ball.

After a strong first few minutes where he made threatening runs into the penalty area and curled a shot from the left side of the penalty box that forced a diving save from Eduardo at his far right post, Torres’ contributions were minimal.  Fernando Llorente came in for Torres in the 58th minute, and after Llorente lit a second spark for the Spaniards after the hour mark, del Bosque might need to reconsider who plays alongside David Villa in the quarterfinals against Paraguay.

As for the other twenty-one players on the pitch, the eleven from Spain exhibited no sliver of the tentative attitude they displayed in the first twenty minutes against Chile, as they pinned Portugal’s eleven into their own half and peppered Eduardo’s goal with shot after shot, especially working the left wing.  Portugal has used three different right backs in their four games (Paulo Ferreira, Miguel, and new Valencia signing Ricardo Costa), so the scouting report must have emphasized attacking this vulnerability.

Portugal manager Carlos Queiroz would not have worried about Spain’s possession or his team’s ability to organize themselves defensively because of their strong defensive record, one goal allowed in their last eleven competitive international matches to be more specific.  Whether he tried to build his players’ confidence or he was delusional, he described the match against Brazil and his ultra-conservative gameplan as a “football feast” where Portugal attacked and Brazil defended.  Using that same blueprint against Spain, Queiroz would have felt that Spain was falling right into his strategy.

And fall they did as Spain’s possession became ponderous, and Portugal felt more assured to throw some men forward in the counter-attack.  Tiago popped an effort from twenty-five yards that Iker Casillas needed a second handle to slap away from an on-charging Hugo Almeida, Cristiano Ronaldo struck a dipping free kick from over forty yards that Casillas somewhat fumbled, and Almeida botched a header from a precise Raul Meireles cross that could have easily given Portugal that precious first goal.  Spain did what they wanted, but Portugal did what they wanted better than Spain.

After the halftime break, the status quo reigned for the first fifteen minutes of the second half as Spain could not penetrate the defense, and Portugal remained dangerous on the counter.  The match changed when Torres came out in the 58th minute and in stepped Fernando Llorente, the Athletic Bilbao target man making his first appearance in this World Cup.  He immediately made an instant impact with his first touch when his diving header from de facto right winger Sergio Ramos’ cross forced a brilliant point-blank save from Eduardo.

Then the combination of FC Barcelona midfielders Andrés Iniesta and Xavi Hernández with future Barcelona forward David Villa occurred with such Catalunyan flair that a picture diagram is necessary to complement the authorial description.

A one-two with Fernando Llorente gave Iniesta the space to dribble around the “D” to find Xavi coming back into an onside location.  In no position to go towards goal, the indomitable Xavi used all the resources of his spatial-temporal reasoning to visualize David Villa’s diagonal run from the left corner of the penalty area and back flick Iniesta’s pass first-time into space, where Villa shot with his left foot to the left near post.  Eduardo did extremely well to cover that area of goal and saved it with his feet; however, the rebound tracked directly back to Villa, and with his feathery touch, he lifted the ball over the sprawled Eduardo, kissing the underside of the crossbar and into goal.

When Spain forced Portugal to chase the game after Villa’s goal, A Selecção looked incapable of forming a cohesive attacking move.  Carles Puyol and Joan Capdevila blocked their only two truly legitimate chances, and the double substitution of Pedro Mendes and Liédson for Simão Sabrosa and Pepe proved to do little for Portugal as Spain controlled the rest of the match.  The only footnotes worth noting after Villa’s goal were Xabi Alonso’s yellow card, the first booking for Spain in the World Cup, David Villa’s stellar play, and Ricardo Costa’s red card after he supposedly elbowed Joan Capdevila, although replays showed little contact and Capdevila’s “writhing of pain” as he covered his face in apparent anguish.

Spain deserved to reach the quarterfinals, and with a gritty Paraguay side that will likely employ similar tactics as Portugal, the Spaniards should feel self-assured about performing well against Paraguay.  David Villa looks to be the favorite in both the Golden Boot and Golden Ball awards, Xavi Hernández and Andrés Iniesta control the midfield and keep possession for this Spain team, and the underrated back four closes down the ball very quickly when their opponents reach their own third.

For those who believe in numerology, Spain’s quarterfinal appearance marks the fourth time in the last seven World Cups where they have reached this stage of the tournament (every other World Cup since 1986), and each time, they failed to progress to the semifinals.  So what is different about this team compared to those other Spanish teams that have flattered to deceive?

Silverware.

Capturing the 2008 European Championships cannot be overstated as a confidence building measure for a country that always produced talent but never fused them into a unified national team.  The regionalism manifested in Spain has hindered the team in the past, as the chemistry never fit a team with such potential.  Some tend to overrate unity and chemistry and propose that talent overcomes whatever problems occur in-house, but numerous examples such as Greece in Euro 2004, South Korea in World Cup 2002, and New Zealand in this year’s World Cup show that twenty-three players playing for one cause can be as powerful as a team littered with world-class players.

Vicente del Bosque will mull over the Fernando Torres question during these two rest days while the players train to see if he finds any slice of form to suggest that Torres is improving enough to warrant a start against Paraguay on Saturday.  It takes a brave man to replace Torres with Fernando Llorente in the starting eleven, but for the betterment of the team, del Bosque must make this move to ensure Spain’s optimal lineup against Paraguay.

While Spain will likely defeat Paraguay whether Torres or Llorente starts, del Bosque should incorporate Llorente from the start to develop a rhythm with the other outfield players as a potential semifinal between either Argentina or Germany looms.  Spain is peaking at the perfect time, and flying under the radar with Brazil and Argentina garnering most of the headlines, this is exactly the position that Spain wants and desires at this stage of the tournament.

The rumors, for once, came to fruition, as FC Barcelona will pay a transfer fee of €40 million to Valencia for Spanish international striker David Villa.  This tango (or the sardana for a more local, Catalunyan flair) danced by the two clubs since the previous offseason will finally end as outgoing Barça president Joan Laporta landed the player he coveted for two years.

Surely, Barcelona signed Villa to be a starting forward, and his most effective position in that front line would be as the center forward of the three-pronged attack.  With Lionel Messi and Pedro Rodríguez on either side of Villa, the Barcelona attacking machine will continue to operate as efficiently and dangerously as ever.

What does this mean for Zlatan Ibrahimovic?

Zlatan Ibrahimovic was supposed to be the answer in the center of Barcelona’s attack.  In order to lure the Swedish hitman from Inter Milan, the Catalunyans spent a net total of €69 million (€46 million in cash, the transfer of Samuel Eto’o from Barça to Inter, valued at €20 million, and another €3 million to compensate for Alyaksandr Hleb refusing the transfer to Inter).

Ibrahimovic had the qualities that Eto’o supposedly lacked: the ability to hold the ball up for his teammates, the acumen to visualize the perfect pass before the action occurs, and the size to better compete for headers and ward off physical challenges.  Even though Eto’o scored thirty goals and led the Pichichi race for top goalscorer most of the 2008-09 La Liga season until Diego Forlán surpassed him late in the season, the Barcelona staff felt they needed more from the center forward role than a pure poacher in the box, at which Eto’o was one of the best in the world.

Through the first few months of the season, Ibrahimovic made an immediate impact with the team, scoring in the first match of the season against Sporting Gijón, providing the only goal in El Clásico against Real Madrid in November after coming back from a hamstring injury, and netting twelve goals in his first nineteen matches in all competitions.

As the season wore on, however, his efficacy in front of goal dwindled considerably.  The match against Real Zaragoza in March clearly showed how his confidence had dropped, when he fluffed three chances that Ibrahimovic would score on his worst days.  He did score in that match but only because of a late penalty that Messi gave to him so that he could regain his confidence.

Aside from the first leg in the quarterfinals of the Champions League against Arsenal where he scored twice at the Emirates Stadium, he was noticeably absent both on and off the pitch in Barcelona’s most important matches.  Pep Guardiola lost so much faith in Ibrahimovic at the climax of the campaign that in both legs of the Champions League semifinal against his former team Inter Milan, Guardiola substituted him in both matches at the hour mark because of his ineffectiveness.  In La Liga, where Real Madrid kept the title race within three points until the final matchday, Guardiola favored Bojan Krkic over Ibrahimovic as the center forward.

Cumulatively, Ibrahimovic had twenty-one goals and ten assists in forty-one matches in all competitions, and while these are solid numbers for a player making his debut season in a new league and country, solid was not the expectation that the Blaugrana set for him.  Replacing a Barça legend in Samuel Eto’o would always become an arduous task, and the Barça boardroom sent a message to Ibrahimovic that he did not fulfill what they envisaged for him with the signing of David Villa.

As any good agent should do, Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s agent, Mino Raiola, tried to quell any sort of talk that the arrival of David Villa spelled the end for Ibrahimovic at the Camp Nou.  In an interview with Calciomercato.it, Raiola reiterated his client’s standing with FC Barcelona:

“The club already said they were happy with Zlatan.  Villa’s arrival has nothing to do with Ibra, and it does not put his stay in danger seeing that Villa can play well on the wings.  He has a contract until 2014, and he is happy at Barcelona.”

As optimistic as that sounds, it could mean trouble for Pedro, Bojan, Jeffrén Suárez, and others in La Masia if Barcelona plans to keep both Ibrahimovic and Villa, but with Pedro breaking through with an outstanding season and Bojan filling Ibrahimovic’s shoes at the end of the season, it is highly doubtful that Barcelona, and specifically Pep Guardiola, would stunt the development of their own academy products in favor of Ibrahimovic.

One year for any player should not become the absolute barometer for what that player will do in the future.  There is an endless amount of cases where players struggled in their first season only to recover and perform to their highest capabilities.  In this day of immediate gratification and astronomical transfer fees, however, instantaneous results matter, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic has not given Barcelona what they wanted.  If Barcelona did not make a move for Villa and Ibrahimovic was given a clean slate to go into his second season with Barcelona, a betting man would put his money on a highly successful season.

Barcelona is not a betting man and wanted reassurances with the signing of David Villa.  When Barcelona sells Ibrahimovic, they will not nearly receive the value that they paid for Ibra, but they will listen to any offers that come their way.

The last opinion that Barcelona would want of themselves is that they are acting like Real Madrid in buying top talent for exorbitant prices, so a rotation that would bench Villa and Ibrahimovic for certain matches would only further this growing perception that Barcelona is turning into their eternal rivals.

Ajax, Juventus, Inter Milan, and now Barcelona.  Four of the preeminent teams in European football, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic could not establish a permanent home in any of those clubs.  If a club can solve the enigma that is Zlatan Ibrahimovic, he would become the most feared striker in the world.  If.

Diego Milito, Iván Córdoba, and Wesley Sneijder celebrate their passage to the Champions League final.

The sprinklers rose up from the pitch and sprayed the Inter Milan players and staff.  The Barcelona anthem, “Cant del Barça,” blared through the loudspeakers as the Culés did not know whether to clap off their Blaugrana heroes or vehemently whistle at the unwanted visitors from northern Italy.  This sense of confusion permeated throughout the Camp Nou after referee Frank de Bleeckere blew the whistle for fulltime, but two things were certain: FC Internazionale Milano would face Bayern Munich in the Champions League final in the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu in Madrid, and FC Barcelona would not.

Inter manager José Mourinho fueled the fire, in typical Mourinho fashion, in the pre-match press conference when he spoke of Barcelona’s ambition to compete in the Champions League final in Madrid:

“We (Inter Milan) have the dream of winning the Champions League, and for Barcelona, it’s an obsession.  This is the difference.  A dream is purer than an obsession.  There is pride in a dream, anywhere in the world.  For Barcelona, it was a dream to reach the final in Rome, but to reach the final at the Bernabéu is an obsession for them.”

If this quote were analyzed on its own grounds, very few people would know what the hell he was talking about; however, Mourinho’s ingenuity for creating distractions away from his team and onto himself has served him well with his previous teams.  FC Porto and Chelsea put up with his antics because they worked.  This formula seemed to sour at Inter Milan, where the Italian press were unimpressed with his brash personality, and even Inter president Massimo Moratti started to suffer from Mourinho fatigue.

With the 3-1 triumph at the San Siro in the first leg of the Champions League semifinals against Barcelona, Mourinho had free reign, and his quote struck a chord with Barça and its fans like no other manager could accomplish.  They immediately went on the defensive.

Some Barcelona supporters reportedly attacked Mourinho’s car after the press conference, punching the windows, throwing various paraphernalia, and attempting to topple the car on its side.

Barça TV, the club’s television channel, created an advertisement where various Barcelona players promised to “leave their skins” on the Camp Nou pitch to audibly declare their intentions on Wednesday night, accompanying the shirts they displayed after they beat Xerez on Saturday which showed the message, “Nos vamos a dejar la piel,” (We will leave our skin).

Another section of Barcelona fans tried to disrupt the sleep of the Inter players Tuesday night into the early hours of Wednesday morning outside of their team hotel, making constant noise with drum, horns, and firecrackers.

Barcelona president Joan Laporta gave his rebuttal to Mourinho’s “obsession” quote, stating that anyone who assesses Barcelona as obsessive is a second-rate psychologist.

A strong reaction from many arms of the Barça establishment, but why?  There is no doubt that José Mourinho can get under the skin (no pun intended) of his opposition, but whenever all of this huffing and puffing occurs, usually it means that there is doubt, and they engage in all of this extracurricular activity to convince themselves otherwise.

When Barcelona traveled to Stamford Bridge in last year’s Champions League semifinal second leg without scoring at the Camp Nou, this same rah-rah fervor did not exist prior to the match.  Although it took a 93rd minute goal by Andrés Iniesta to slug past Chelsea into the final, the confidence that Barcelona had of breaking through a resolute Chelsea defense was enough for them.

Although they only needed to score once at Stamford Bridge last season, a 2-0 result at the Camp Nou, even against a José Mourinho defense, was not an impossible situation by any stretch.  All of the extraneous motivation mentioned above was inconsistent with this team and teemed with a desperation not seen since the end of the Frank Rijkaard era.

When the players took to the pitch at 20:45 CET, the choreographed displays of the Catalunyan flag from each goal side and a Barça trophy resplendent in garnet, yellow, and blue from the sideline stands would inspire the most jaded of players.  Not only the Barcelona players, but the Inter Milan players who would want nothing more than to spoil Barcelona’s magnificent run since the origins of the Pep Guardiola regime.

With Carles Puyol suspended for this match, Gabriel Milito was expected to deputize in central defense, but Guardiola threw a wrench with Milito starting at left back and Touré Yaya in central defense.  In the first leg, most of Inter’s successful attacking moves originated down the right flank, and they took advantage of Maxwell’s constant forward runs and left him out of position for Maicon, Samuel Eto’o, and Wesley Sneijder to perform their duties.

For Inter Milan, yellow cards became their main concern, as, save for Lúcio, the rest of the back four was one yellow card away from missing the final should they reach that stage.  The burning question lingered about whether Maicon, Walter Samuel, and Javier Zanetti would be hesitant to throw themselves into challenges, knowing that one late tackle could mean suspension from the biggest match of their careers.  Ask Roy Keane and Paul Scholes, who missed the 1999 final when Manchester United completed their astonishing two-goal turnaround in stoppage time against Bayern Munich.  According to Keane, “Although I was putting a brave face on it, this (missing the final) was just about the worst experience I’d had in football.”

Inter clearly frustrated Barcelona through the first twenty-seven minutes, ceding nearly 80% of the possession but allowing nothing to bother their goalkeeper Júlio César.  Then the inevitable controversy ensued when Frank de Bleeckere sent off former Barça player Thiago Motta for a hand to the face of Sergio Busquets.  As the modern game would dictate, Busquets reacted as though he suffered a knockout blow from Mike Tyson.  He had the audacity to take a peek at de Bleeckere to see if he flashed a card before “regaining his senses,” and he accomplished exactly what he set out to do when Motta raised his hand to his face.

Understandably, Motta could not believe the decision and needed to be held back not from de Bleeckere but from Busquets.  A harsh decision by de Bleeckere, but if the roles were reversed, Motta would have likely done the same thing and also try to coax that red card.

Until Gerard Piqué scored in the 84th minute, however, Barça’s one-man advantage appeared irrelevant, as Inter Milan continued to clear any ball that entered their penalty area.  Júlio César made a spectacular diving, fingertip save on a Lionel Messi curler, and Bojan Krkic missed an absolute certainty of a header two minutes before Piqué’s goal, but the vast majority of Barça’s attempts on goal were fired from the twenty-five to thirty-five yard distances, nothing that would seriously trouble Júlio César.

More newsworthy than Barça’s lack of cutting edge involved the substitution of Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the 63rd minute in favor of Bojan Krkic.  With twenty-seven minutes on the clock, there remained plenty of time to score the necessary two goals, but Pep Guardiola believed Bojan had a better chance of galvanizing the offense than Ibrahimovic.  Ibrahimovic’s reputation had been linked to his shrinking violet act in the most important moments for both club and country, and his listless performance against Inter Milan will do him no favors in shaking this reputation.

The last ten minutes became purely riveting, as the siege on Inter’s goal had actual consequences, and when Bojan appeared to net the clinching goal in the first minute of stoppage time, the city of Barcelona actually lifted from the ground, but Frank de Bleeckere blew his whistle before Bojan’s goal transpired for a handball on Touré Yaya.

No one claimed any doubt that Touré Yaya did not intentionally handle the ball, as Walter Samuel smashed his clearance straight into Yaya’s tucked arm from less than three yards away, but that call always goes against the attacking team and in favor of the defending team.  If that same situation happened, where the offensive player kicked the ball into the defensive player’s tucked arms in their own penalty area, the referee would rightfully continue play because the handball was unintentional.

Barcelona did not do enough on the pitch, and their 1-0 result might be their most hollow victory in many years.  Legitimate questions will be asked about this Barça team.  Would Andrés Iniesta have made the difference between advancing and failing?  Does Pep Guardiola need to develop an alternate plan when the opposition decides to employ ten men behind the ball?  Did Barcelona miss the inspiration of their captain, Carles Puyol, even though Inter Milan made little to no suggestion of troubling the Barça defense?  Was the Ibrahimovic for Eto’o swap a potential bust?

All of these inquiries will either never be answered or answered over time, but now they must focus on their tenuous one point lead over Real Madrid in La Liga.  Failing to reach the Champions League final in Madrid hurts, but if Barcelona cannot hold on to the La Liga crown after having at least a share of the lead for all but a couple weeks of the season, this potentially historic team will become just another good team that played nice football.

As for now, they will seethe over José Mourinho, pejoratively referred to as “The Interpreter” in Barcelona, and how he defiantly pointed to the crowd in revelry after his Inter Milan team achieved for what they set out.  Mourinho deserved to do whatever he wanted, however, because he earned it.  He slew the beast.  Those windmills were actual giants, and he defeated the enchanter.  Joan Laporta, Pep Guardiola, and the rest of the Blaugrana nation will look internally soon enough, but this pain that they will have to put away in time for Villarreal on Saturday stings much more than the joy they felt from any of their six trophies from a year ago.

A ridiculous question with what should be a simple answer.  First, a cursory investigation.  Is Barcelona on top of the standings in La Liga?  Yes.  Has Barcelona obtained sixty-one points from twenty-four matches, one more point than it had at the same point last season?  Check.  Does Barcelona have the edge in its UEFA Champions League matchup against Stuttgart because of the away goal?  True.  Does Barcelona have some of the greatest players in the world of football?  Absolutely.  Has Barcelona been figured out?  From all the previous affirmations, the headline answer should be a definitive NO, but peering underneath the surface reveals a few cracks in their perfect facade.

As Chelsea and Rubin Kazan proved last year, one strategy to eke out a positive result against the Blaugrana includes conceding 70%+ possession to the Catalans and hope to capitalize on one or two chances when Carles Puyol’s defensive four play their extremely high line.  Many teams have unsuccessfully tried this tactic, but on Saturday evening, Málaga decided to employ this type of football, believing that they can be akin to Chelsea and Rubin Kazan.  It almost worked.

After a frustrating sixty-eight minutes, where nearly every Dani Alves cross was cleared and Lionel Messi’s wondrous runs were eventually snuffed by the Málaga defense, it took a special strike from Barcelona’s clutch performer of the season, Pedro Rodríguez, to break the deadlock.

Fernando and Manolo did not close Pedro’s space down, and with only Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the penalty area, Pedro decided tto take the shot himself from just outside the box.  He powered it to the point where goalkeeper Gustavo Munúa could only get a hand to it at his left near post despite him covering that side of the goal.

The unthinkable occurred twelve minutes later, when a one-two between Valdo and Victor Obinna at the halfway line sent Valdo free for nearly half of the pitch, and he converted the opportunity with aplomb, as he slotted the ball past a determined Victor Valdés.

Now for 99.7% of teams with a slim one-goal advantage with ten minutes to spare, playing deeper in their own half is not only prudent but the correct tactic.  Not for Barcelona.  What some might consider naïveté, Barcelona sees as the only way.  For the most part, Barcelona executes with total clarity, but on rare occasions, as with Valdo and Obinna, they pay a steep price for their loyalty to the club philosophy.

As with true champions, however, they managed to discover the game-winner in the late stages to make one point into three.  Xavi Hernández had an unusually quiet game, but his field vision is incomparable, and he played a cutting, diagonal ball to a streaking Dani Alves on the right wing.  A straightforward, first-time squared ball across the six-yard box to an unmarked Messi, and the tap-in gave Barça a 2-1 lead in the 84th minute, a lead they would not relinquish.

For the defending La Liga champions, stringing twenty to thirty passes to find an opening in the defense is normal business for them, but after they took the lead, their passing took more of a defensive nature.  They passed it around the field almost in an attempt to wind the clock down rather than initiate another attack.  With Málaga producing a dogged and earnest effort throughout the match, this mode was the right move, but it was quite peculiar to witness Barcelona passing it around with no ambition.

The other stratagem falls only for the brave (some might say for the suicidal).  It involves taking the game to Barcelona.  This inevitably means that there will be plenty of space for the Barcelona dynamos if they retrieve possession.  Tenerife was successful for the first thirty-five minutes against Barcelona in their match in January by putting the Barça players on their back heels.  A recurring problem for the Chicharreros all season, however, has been their lack of finishing, and when they could not score on some promising opportunities, Barcelona smelled blood, and a 0-5 thumping ensued.

When Barcelona visited the Mercedes-Benz Arena to face Stuttgart, no one would have blamed Die Schwaben if they used the Chelsea/Rubin Kazan strategy.  Although their form improved dramatically since Christian Gross took over the manager position from Markus Babbel, they still lied ninth in the Bundesliga and needed to defeat Unirea Urziceni on the final group stage match to advance to the Round of 16.

Cautious in the beginning, Stuttgart ventured forward when Barça could not organize an effective attack.  Cacau scored once and could have had another two, and by halftime, the 1-0 score line in favor of Stuttgart flattered Barcelona.  According to Gerard Piqué in the Spanish sports newspaper Sport, “If we play as we did in the first half, we are not going to last long in this competition.”

Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s crucial equalizer in the second half gave Barça the precious away goal and the 1-1 result away from home, but that does not take away from Stuttgart outplaying the Catalans for long stretches of the game.

Lionel Messi admitted that his side is not performing up to their celestial expectations.  On the club website following the Stuttgart match, he said, “I don’t know what went wrong.  It’s true that recently we’ve not been playing the same football we are used to, but now is the key moment and we have to get back to that level.”

Injuries clearly have hindered their play as of late.  Xavi and Ibrahimovic have recently returned from injury spells, and Seydou Keita, Éric Abidal, and Dmytro Chygrynskiy remain in the trainer’s room.

Around this same time last season, Barcelona lulled in relative mediocrity.  In a span of five matches from February 14 to March 4, they drew three and lost two, including a loss to a then relegation-bound Espanyol and a 2-2 draw with Real Betis, who would be relegated to the Segunda División at the end of the season.  What happened from that point forward is now immortalized in Barcelona’s six-trophy 2009, so why would this current momentary slip be any different from last year?

The final three months of the season should provide the final answer to the opening rhetorical question, but for any team to win against Barcelona, they have to believe that they have the solution to the Barça question.  Managers now have a large sampling in which to study Pep Guardiola’s coaching tendencies.

The doubt creeping from both the Barça fans and the press corps may be sounding the alarm bell a little early, but now this team cannot evade the comparisons to last year’s Barcelona squad that won every competition they entered.  They have only lost three times in the 2009-10 campaign: once in La Liga, once in the Champions League, and once in the Copa del Rey.  With Real Madrid breathing down their neck in Spain and other European teams wanting to dethrone the European champions, Barça cannot afford to “struggle” much longer if they want to defend these two crowns.

Has Barcelona been figured out?  Hardly, but that air of indomitability that they imposed last season has lessened to a degree.

Fueras de Juego

- Another natural disaster rocked the globe early Saturday morning.  This time, an 8.8 earthquake off the coast of Chile crumbled buildings and roads, leaving at least seven hundred dead with the toll rising at this moment.  One of the stars of the Chilean national football team, Humberto “Chupete” Suazo, paid homage to his homeland by scoring two goals in Real Zaragoza’s 0-2 victory over Getafe.  After scoring each of his two goals, he lifted his jersey to reveal his message, “Fuerza Chile.”  We all echo the same sentiment.

- The most surprisingly entertaining match of the weekend was the back and forth affair between Sporting Gijón and Osasuna.  A meeting of two mid-table teams that have a lack of scoring, a 3-2 result for the Asturians included a couple of penalties, a lightning pace, and an intense atmosphere rare for a match between teams that do not have much for which to play.

- Apparently, Carlos Marchena wants goalkeeper César Sánchez’s job because Marchena did a wonderful job in slapping away Sergio Agüero’s attempt to dribble away from him inside the box.  Neither referee Alfonso Pérez Burrull nor his linesman called the obvious penalty, but after harassment from the Atlético Madrid players and a chat with the fourth official, Pérez Burrull awarded Atlético the penalty kick, and Marchena rightly received a red card.  Atlético routed Valencia 4-1, and consistency might actually be arriving at the Vicente Calderón (but if they limply fall to Real Zaragoza next Sunday, no one will be surprised).

Snow-capped El Teide in Tenerife, the highest point in Spain and the highest point in the Atlantic Ocean.

The obvious surprising result of the previous round was Atlético Madrid’s 2-1 victory over Barcelona to hand the Catalunyan champions their first loss in La Liga this season.  If analyzed deeper, however, Barça’s defeat at the hands of Los Colchoneros becomes less of a shocker.

Historically, Atleti had a respectable record against Barcelona in Madrid, the boys from the capital play to the level of their competition (which frustrates their fans when they get blown out by lower clubs like Málaga and Recreativo Huelva), and Barcelona was ravaged by injuries and suspensions to the point where Josep Guardiola employed winger Jeffren Suárez at right back. The blaugrana were never going to march through the whole season without a loss, and losing at place where they always struggled would be better than falling to a team they own.

Real Madrid cares not a single iota about Barça’s injury problems, as their less than impressive performance against Xerez still profited a 0-3 road victory.  They climbed to within two points of their eternal rivals, but in the late Sunday kickoff, Los Blancos face a Villarreal club that is hard to predict.  Much like Atlético Madrid this season, the Yellow Submarine plays with a sublime nature in one game, as they did against Barcelona at the beginning of 2010, and in another match, the Villarreal “B” team, who currently lies sixth in the Segunda División, deserves to be playing in the top flight over the senior team.

The most important match of the weekend in terms of final placement will occur on the island of Mallorca.  Mallorca hopes to extended their 100% home record in La Liga when they host Sevilla in the late Saturday kickoff.  Both continue to tussle for the final Champions League spot, and with Sevilla winning their first meeting in September 2-0, Mallorca needs to win by a higher margin to overtake Sevilla in the tiebreaker should they be equal on points at the end of the season.  Unlike in some leagues, where goal difference over the whole season is the first criterium in settling a tie in points, La Liga uses the head-to-head tiebreaker to determine who lies ahead in the table.

The times listed are Eastern Standard Time (EST) and include the pregame pleasantries, although sometimes the matches on the DirecTV La Liga specific channels may not go to match coverage until right before kickoff.

Feb. 20

Deportivo La Coruña vs. Xerez – 11:55 AM on Gol TV

FC Barcelona vs. Racing Santander – 1:55 PM on Gol TV

Mallorca vs. Sevilla – 3:55 PM on ESPN Deportes/ESPN 360

Feb. 21

Athletic Bilbao vs. Tenerife – 10:45 AM on DirecTV channel 456

Málaga vs. Espanyol – 10:45 AM on DirecTV channel 457

Real Zaragoza vs. Sporting Gijón – 10:45 AM on DirecTV channel 458

Almería vs. Atlético Madrid – 12:55 PM on Gol TV

Real Madrid vs. Villarreal – 2:55 PM on ESPN Deportes/ESPN 360

Feb. 22

Valencia vs. Getafe – 2:55 PM on ESPN Deportes/ESPN 360

Unfortunately, the Osasuna – Real Valladolid match at El Reyno de Navarra will not be shown on US TV.

UEFA Champions League

Real Madrid’s performance against Lyon on Tuesday was not poor, but give credit to the Ligue 1 side, who tactically and strategically played the match to perfection.  Real maintained possession more than 60% of the time, but the chances they created were few and far between, whereas Lyon had many fewer opportunities, but those they fashioned were of high quality, highlighted by Jean Makoun’s Champions League goal of the week, a thirty-yard missile to the top left corner of the goal.

The other two Spanish teams left in the competition, Barcelona and Sevilla, will kickoff their first legs in the Round of 16 next week.  They will be considered heavy favorites to advance into the next round against Stuttgart and CSKA Moskva, respectively.  Stuttgart steadily improved from a disastrous start to the season, but defeating Barcelona over two legs may be a chore they are not ready to handle at this point.  As for CSKA Moskva, they have not played a competitive match since the Russian Premier League season ended in late November.  Sevilla has no idea what kind of team they will face at the Luzhniki Stadium, and CSKA may not know either.  On paper, this looks to be the least appetizing of the four Champions League ties, but the uncertainty of both teams may lead to the tightest of the four matches.

Feb. 23

Olympiakos vs. Girondins de Bordeaux – 2:30 PM on Fox Soccer Channel (5:00 PM on delay on Setanta Sports)

Stuttgart vs. FC Barcelona – 2:30 PM on FSN HD and Fox Sports en Español

Feb. 24

CSKA Moskva vs. Sevilla – 12:15 PM on Setanta Sports (5:00 PM on delay on Fox Soccer Channel and Fox Sports en Español)

Inter Milan vs. Chelsea – 2:30 PM on Fox Soccer Channel and Fox Sports en Español

UEFA Europa League

A mediocre week for all of the Spanish teams in European competitions, the four La Liga teams in the Europa League face deficits coming into their second legs next Thursday.  Athletic Bilbao surged in the second half of their match against Anderlecht and should have taken a league to Belgium, but a lack of finishing touch by Fernando Llorente and company forces the Basques to score in Brussels in order to advance to the next round.

Atlético Madrid played the most complete football of the Spanish teams in Europe this week, but when David de Gea was forced to leave the game due to injury, Sergio Asenjo, the deposed number one goalkeeper, came in and gave the shaky performance that caused him to be benched.  Hesitation cost him at his near post, as he conceded an acute-angled equalizer to Abdul Kader Keita late in the match.  As they head into “Hell,” as the Galatasaray supporters call the Ali Sami Yen Stadium, there is good news for Atlético fans in that David de Gea may be available for the second leg on Thursday, although he will likely be out for their domestic match against Almería.

Valencia and Villarreal were also average, but these two teams may be the ones that have the best chance to overturn their ties.  For Valencia, they return to the Mestalla with a mere one-goal deficit.  While they do not have a stellar home record in La Liga, they have not lost in four home matches in the Europa League, and they have the ability to score in bunches.  As for Villarreal, their inconsistency can benefit them when they travel to the Volkswagen Arena.  Wolfsburg has only won three out of eleven matches at home in the Bundesliga, and Villarreal has the experience of playing in contentious road European ties.

Feb. 25

Anderlecht vs. Athletic Bilbao – 12:45 PM on DirecTV channel 467 (467-1 for HD) (Anderlecht 1-1 Athletic Bilbao after the first leg)

Galatasaray vs. Atlético Madrid – 1:00 PM on Gol TV (Galatasaray 1-1 Atlético Madrid after the first leg)

Valencia vs. Club Brugge – 3:00 PM on DirecTV channel 465 (465-1 for HD) (Valencia 0-1 Club Brugge after the first leg)

Wolfsburg vs. Villarreal – 3:00 PM on DirecTV channel 463 (463-1 for HD) (Wolfsburg 2-2 Villarreal after the first leg)

The world’s best player  ensured Barca avenged the Coppa del Rey exit at the hands of Sevilla when he scored two goals in the 4-0 rout of the Rojiblancos. Lionel Messi not only helped the Catalan club thump Sevilla but also made sure the lead over Real Madrid got extended to a comfortable five points. Along the way Messi has reached another landmark in Barcelona history and made sure his name will be forever etched in the club’s folklore. He became the youngest player in the club’s prestigious history to reach 100 goals.

The humble Messi did not take the opportunity to gloat about his achievement but rather warned the season is still young with many games to be played and insisting it is too early to start celebrating. His maturity and focus are exemplary and the Coach Josep Guardiola must be counting his lucky stars for having such a talented player who is concentrated on achieving glory for the club as opposed to playing for personal achievements. Messi has actually scored 101 goals in 188 appearances for the club, including a remarkable 68 league goals in 124 matches.

Messi has scored 14 goals and assisted on six others in just 15 league matches while his totals for the season are 21 goals in 27 appearances in all competitions. More importantly, Messi led Barca to winning all six trophies in 2009 (La Liga, Copa del Rey, European Champions League, Supercopa de Espana, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA World Club Cup) in a historic and amazing feat unmatched by any other European club. Messi also had the honour of scoring Barca’s 5000th goal La Liga goal in February 2009 against Racing Santander.

Barca will be challenging for trophies for many seasons to come as long as the 22-year-old Argentine star remains with the club and does not suffer any injuries. If he remains with the club for several years then he will probably be considered Barca’s best player ever. Some pundits and fans are already calling him Barca’s best ever. For now, Messi is satisfied with playing his part in bringing trophies to the club.

A festive atmosphere enveloped the Camp Nou on Saturday evening as the boys of the Blaugrana celebrated their unprecedented six-trophy year with their Barça faithful.  Villarreal was a mere afterthought as the Barcelona players deservedly received their plaudits for a year of literal perfection.  Even Villarreal showed them respect before the match when they created a tunnel for Barcelona to run through as the Villarreal players clapped and appreciated their host’s achievements.  When referee Bernardino González Vázquez blew his whistle to commence the game, however, the lovefest ceased, and Villarreal showed Barcelona and those watching in the stands and through their televisions why they have been a European force in the last six years.

Manager Pep Guardiola gave Lionel Messi the day off, as Pep gave him some extra vacation time.  Messi was there for the celebration, but he had just arrived from Argentina, and he was not match-fit.  Jonathan dos Santos played in Messi’s place, and it was his first start for the senior team.  For Villarreal, Ernesto Valverde left Giuseppe Rossi on the bench in favor of Nilmar as the lone striker, and he gave David Fuster only his third start of the season and positioned him just behind Nilmar.

When Barcelona scored in the seventh minute, there was a sense of a blowout as the feelings of euphoria brought about from the pregame fiesta carried into the opening minutes of the match.  The goal came from a typical Barça move.  In the final third of the pitch, Xavi Hernández played a diagonal ball to Dani Alves deep down the right flank.  Alves did well to whip in a cross into the middle of the penalty area.  The ball bounced in the box and into the vicinity of Thierry Henry.  The cross was a little behind Henry, but leaning on his left foot, he unleashed a half-volley missile that rocked the crossbar.  Pedro Rodríguez was alert, kept himself onside before Henry’s shot, and slotted home the rebound coolly to give his team the 1-0 lead.

If there is a criticism to be laid upon Barcelona this season, they have tended to start slowly in their matches, but with the quick goal against Villarreal, it would not have been unusual for Barcelona to get the second and third goals in quick succession.  Marcos Senna and Villarreal made sure that the seventh minute would be the only one conceded on this night.

Barcelona had their chances in the first half to add a second goal, including a sitter from twelve yards that Zlatan Ibrahimovic failed to get on target and a Henry header that flew over the crossbar in the 45th minute, but Ernesto Valverde employed tactics that few managers embarked on against Barcelona.  Villarreal played how Barça plays against all of their opponents: ball possession, a high defensive line, and constant pressure on the ball.

For all the recognition that Barcelona receives for their flowing, attacking style, their unending and unrelenting energy on defense is arguably the most important aspect in their six-trophy season.  Many teams sit back in their own half of the field and hope for a quick counter-attack against Barcelona, and this is why Barcelona has sixty-five to seventy-five percent of the possession in each match.  Valverde knew that this type of strategy would only lead to their demise, so when Barça was on the ball, a Villarreal player or two would immediately shift towards that man.  Barcelona was not used to this type of pressure put upon them, and it led to more turnovers in midfield and in their own third of the field.

Obviously, with this Barça tactic, a team has to have the players that can execute this game plan.  Clubs like Xerez and Málaga could not play the way that Villarreal did against Barcelona due to a lack of quality players, but with Marcos Senna and Bruno Soriano providing the steel in the midfield, and the attacking quartet of Cani, David Fuster, Santi Cazorla, and Nilmar working tirelessly to retrieve possession immediately after losing it, they out-Barça-ed Barça for a majority of the match.  The statistics would not necessarily support this statement, as Barcelona had a 60-40 ratio of possession in their favor, but the 60% is a low number for them, and many observing the game could see that Villarreal rattled their cage that slight bit, and Barcelona hardly had to cope with this throughout the season.

David Fuster made the most of his rare start by roaming around in his free role behind the striker and disrupting the normally tight Barcelona defense.  In the 28th minute, Cani crossed into the area near the end line, and Fuster flew from the penalty spot and nodded down a header that, ironically, he hit too hard.  Always taught to bring the header down, Fuster did exactly that, but it bounced off the turf and over the crossbar.

Eventually, Fuster’s presence in the Barcelona half of the field turned to gold in the 51st minute, when he converted after numerous chances to equalize earlier in the match.  Villarreal maintained a spell of possession in the final third, and when Nilmar’s shot was blocked, the move looked to be over, but Cani was first to the ball and provided sweet service to Fuster at the back post, where he perfected a technically difficult half-volley across goal and past Victor Valdés into the back of the net.

Barcelona stemmed Villarreal’s momentum when Andrés Iniesta came in for the largely ineffective Jonathan dos Santos in the 58th minute.  Dos Santos showed flashes of his enormous talent, but he was overmatched on this night, and his 19-year-old legs will see much better days.  Two minutes into Iniesta’s shift, Pedro played a skillful pullback to him around the 18-yard penalty line, but the pass was a little behind Iniesta, so he could not take the shot first-time.  Iniesta took a touch and shot an off-balanced effort that Diego López handled easily.

López nearly paid for a poor goal clearance in the 65th minute, when Iniesta reclaimed possession and curled a wonderful shot toward the top right corner of the net, but López made a soaring save to tip it around the goal.  The match ultimately finished 1-1, with Villarreal fully deserving a share of the spoils.

Villarreal has the reputation of playing pretty, passing football but not necessarily having the physicality needed throughout a long campaign.  They committed fifteen fouls as well as suffering twenty-two fouls against Barcelona, so at least for this match, they were not afraid to go into challenges and be fully committed to the job.  Iván Marcano and Diego Godín were stellar in central defense as they closed down Xavi and Ibrahimovic.  They frustrated Ibrahimovic, and this frustration boiled over when Ibrahimovic received a yellow card in the 88th minute for a late tackle on Godín.

A controversial no-call on a penalty claim by Nilmar on a clumsy Carles Puyol challenge may have given Villarreal all three points, but even though they earned only the solitary point, they know now that their poor early-season form was not a sign of future play.  Moral victories do not mean much in terms of position in the league, and Villarreal remains ninth in the table, eight points behind the final Champions League spot.  If they remain healthy in the midfield with Bruno, Santi Cazorla, and their inspirational captain Marcos Senna, their overall ability should see them rise into the European spots by the end of the season.

In Spain, one of the New Year's Eve traditions includes eating twelve grapes before the stroke of midnight, one grape for each of the last twelve seconds of the year. Photo courtesy of Camino Z.

As 2010 arrives through the doorstep, La Liga returns with a vengeance from the winter break that seemingly flew by so quickly.  As soon as these players finish their grapes and cava to ring in the new year, the focus needs to return to their football responsibilities.

Nearing the conclusion of the first half of the season, the top four teams in La Liga will encounter matches where they would be favored to earn the three points, but if there is a week to steal a result, the first round of matches after the holiday vacation might be one of the best times to accomplish this feat.

Surging Villarreal will visit the Camp Nou and face FC Barcelona, the newly-christened Club World Cup champions, and Sevilla will hope to curb their stumbling form against an Atlético Madrid team who will look to shrug off 2009 and start anew in 2010.

At the opposite end of the table, Xerez’s bleak chances of staving off relegation will become even darker if they do not win at El Estadio de los Juego Mediterráneos against the home side Almería.  17th place Almería has not won since early November, and they recently fired their manager Hugo Sánchez.

Xerez may have overachieved in progressing to the top flight of Spanish football, but if they ultimately regress back to the Segunda División, they do not want to bow out like Derby County did in the 2007-08 English Premier League season when the Rams finished with a 1-8-29 record and a record low 11 points (the record low for points in La Liga since it went to a 38 match schedule and three points for a win was 13 points by Sporting Gijón in 1997-98 with a 2-7-29 record).

The times listed are Eastern Standard Time (EST) and include the pregame pleasantries, although sometimes the matches on the DIRECTV La Liga specific channels may not go to match coverage until right before kickoff.

Jan. 2

Valencia vs. Espanyol – 11:55 AM on ESPN Deportes/ESPN 360

Barcelona vs. Villarreal – 1:55 PM on ESPN Deportes/ESPN 360

Atlético Madrid vs. Sevilla – 3:55 PM on Gol TV

Jan. 3

Almería vs. Xerez – 10:45 AM on DirecTV channel 456

Getafe vs. Real Valladolid – 10:45 AM on DirecTV channel 457

Sporting Gijón vs. Málaga – 10:45 AM on DirecTV channel 458

Real Zaragoza vs. Deportivo La Coruña – 10:55 AM on ESPN Deportes/ESPN 360

Mallorca vs. Athletic Bilbao – 12:55 PM on Gol TV

Osasuna vs. Real Madrid – 2:55 PM on Gol TV

Unfortunately, the Racing de Santander – Tenerife matchup at El Sardinero will not be seen on US TV.

Copa del Rey

The Copa del Rey returns in January for four consecutive mid-weeks, as the top teams enforce their squad rotations and the lower table/lower division teams look to further their Cinderella cup runs.  While the Barcelona – Sevilla match might provide the best quality of the eight matches in this coming mid-week, many are still captivated by little Alcorcón, the dragon-slayers of Real Madrid.  On the surface, Alcorcón received a favorable draw against relegation-fighting Racing de Santander, but Racing likely sees the Copa del Rey as their only chance to be significant this season.  Expect a full-strength squad and 100% effort from Racing against the outsiders from Madrid.

Jan. 5

Barcelona vs. Sevilla – 3:55 PM on ESPN Deportes/ESPN 360

Jan. 6

Celta de Vigo vs. Villarreal – 11:55 AM on ESPN Deportes/ESPN 360

Alcorcón vs. Racing de Santander – 1:55 PM on ESPN Deportes/ESPN 360

Valencia vs. Deportivo La Coruña – 1:55 PM on Gol TV

Recreativo Huelva vs. Atlético Madrid – 3:55 PM on Gol TV

Jan. 7

Málaga vs. Getafe – 3:55 PM on Gol TV

The dawn of the new year as seen through a narrow street in Peñiscola, Spain

The hype, the pomp, the circumstance.  All of these rose to a higher level for this episode of El Clásico at the Camp Nou on Sunday evening.  Coming into this match, FC Barcelona turned their fortunes around in the UEFA Champions League with a 2-0 victory over Inter Milan.  The scoreline hardly gave any justice to both teams as Barcelona played as well as Inter played poorly.  The impotency in attack as well as the nonchalance in defense for Inter contrasted with the elegant passing football and the defensive pressure presented by Barça.  What resulted were two goals in twenty-six minutes and a willingness to keep possession, as Inter Milan did not use their ability to close Barça down.

Real Madrid was more workmanlike in their 1-0 win over FC Zürich.  Reading the stat sheet would convince all those who did not witness the match that Real dominated their lowly Swiss opponents, but the desire and spirit within the Zürich squad contributed to a tighter than expected match.  Real toiled through a physical encounter to rise to the top of their Champions League group with one match to go, and they were able to give Cristiano Ronaldo his first action in several weeks.  His twenty-minute stint was not anything special, but the most important reason that manager Manuel Pellegrini sent him out against FC Zürich was to get him used to live football before their match against Barcelona.

The biggest pieces of news before the Real – Barça clash were the absences of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Raúl from their respective teams’ starting eleven.  Raúl’s omission did not come as too much of a surprise because Gonzalo Higuaín has been the in form striker in the last few games, but for Pellegrini to exclude Raúl in such a monumental occasion shows that he is in full control of this team and will do what he feels is best for the team, even if that means passing over Real legends like Raúl and Guti.  As for Ibrahimovic, he struggled with a hamstring injury that occurred in a league match against Mallorca three weeks ago and forced him to miss two friendlies for the Swedish national team and a Champions League encounter against Inter Milan.  Both Raúl and Ibrahimovic were available on their sides’ benches if necessary.

Many expected this match to be a goal fest, similar to their last meeting in early May, when Real Madrid fought their way back into the title race with a torrid fifty-two points out of a possible fifty-four heading into El Clásico.  Barcelona would dominate the proceedings with a 2-6 thrashing at the Santiago Bernabéu to seal La Liga for the Blaugrana.  What transpired this Sunday was more akin to the first Barcelona – Real Madrid meeting last season, where goals were at a premium, and the physical nature of both teams was a major part in influencing the run of play.

Even though it was 0-0 at halftime, Real won the opening forty-five minutes by creating the better chances and snuffing out the influences of Xavi Hernández, Andrés Iniesta, and Lionel Messi.  Manuel Pellegrini’s tactics forced the ball away from Xavi, the conductor of the Catalunyan orchestra, and Barcelona bypassed the midfield altogether on more occasions than they prefer.  Xabi Alonso and Lassana Diarra worked in synergy in the midfield, as their two dominated the midfield three of Barcelona.

Real had the best opportunity to score in the first half in the 20th minute, when Kaká’s run from the left flank into the penalty area set up a pass across the box to an unmarked Cristiano Ronaldo.  Ronaldo took the shot first-time to the left far post and had Barça keeper Victor Valdés going the wrong way.  Valdés somehow deflected the shot with his trailing legs and went wide of the post for a corner.  Ronaldo might be criticized for not finishing a golden opportunity, but most of the credit should belong to Valdés, as he continues to become one of Spain’s top goalkeepers without ever being noticed.  Those gaffes that have plagued his career are at a bare minimum, and Barcelona rewarded this consistency with a contract extension through 2014 in the offseason.

The start of the second half was more of the same as each team received yellow cards for professional fouls.  Both teams tended to halt any semblance of a counter-attack or breakaway with a professional foul or significant contact.  Barcelona continued to possess the ball at a high percentage but failed to substantiate it with any noteworthy chances.  Barça manager Pep Guardiola made the first move in the tactical game between Pellegrini and him when he sent in Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the 51st minute for an ineffective Thierry Henry.  Henry started the match in the center of the three forward line with Messi on his right and Iniesta on his left but found little success.  He drifted to his more comfortable left flank as the game wore on but still could not engineer a legitimate scoring opportunity.

The blasé Barcelona attack suddenly became much more potent with Ibrahimovic leading the line.  They had their best spell of possession two minutes into Ibrahimovic’s shift, when a series of patented Barça short, incisive passes ultimately led to a shot blocked by Xabi Alonso.  Although they did not convert, Barcelona brought different ideas into the fold and concerned an already worried Real Madrid, as they felt the momentum shift toward their Catalunyan rivals.

Real Madrid stubbornly succumbed to this momentum when Barcelona broke the deadlock in the 56th minute.  Ibrahimovic volleyed in a left-footed shot to give Barça the 1-0 lead.  Dani Alves gets equal credit for the goal because of a wonderful early cross, and Ibrahimovic still had plenty to do, as his left-footed volley was technically difficult.  Many players with this particular opportunity would either blaze it high over the crossbar or completely mistime the cross and whiff on the shot.  This moment was why Barcelona was so aggressive in bringing Zlatan Ibrahimovic from Inter Milan.  As technically gifted and football-intelligent as he is, he built a reputation for coming up small in the most important moments.  Whether this assertion was fair or not became irrelevant at this instant as Ibrahimovic etched his name into the fabric of this historic rivalry.

The euphoria would be short-lived as Sergio Busquets received his second yellow card for an unnecessary and deliberate handball in midfield in the 62nd minute.  Touré Yaya came in for Seydou Keita to beef up the midfield and fill the absence of Busquets, and Andrés Iniesta dropped back into the midfield to produce a 4-3-2 formation.  As well as Barcelona’s offensive flair drives their overall philosophy, it often overlooks their defensive tenacity and discipline.  Carles Puyol is the captain of the team for a reason, and he wears the Catalunyan armband with abounding pride and grit.  Barcelona held on to the clean sheet and the win thanks to Puyol’s defensive positioning and sheer will.

He fully committed to sliding challenges that prevented potential goals in the 26th, 53rd, and 70th minutes, and as Real pushed forward with a one-man advantage and a one-goal deficit, Puyol led the defensive line, always insisting to be compact with his words and his hand gestures.  While Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored the goal that made the difference on the scoreboard, Carles Puyol clearly was the man of the match as he personified the fortitude and determination of FC Barcelona.  Those rumors of Puyol leaving for Manchester City seem laughable now.

Despite the hyperbole surrounding the match, Barcelona’s three-point win over their blood rivals only gives the Blaugrana a tenuous two point lead over Los Merengues, with a myriad of challengers just behind them with twenty-six rounds of matches left.  Real Madrid will take solace in the fact that Cristiano Ronaldo is on his way back to full fitness, and their team will continue to gel as the campaign continues.  Sevilla and Valencia have the talent to break the duopoly at the top of La Liga.  Today, however, belongs to the tenants of Camp Nou.

This past week was a litmus test in their efforts to recapture the once inconceivable treble.  Barcelona was in grave danger of not qualifying for the knockout stages of the Champions League and falling four points behind Real Madrid at the end of November.  The mark of a champion is when they win when not playing at their best.  Hardly anyone will say that Barcelona was at their scintillating best against Inter Milan and Real Madrid, but they achieved their desired results without compromising their beliefs and philosophies.  The 155th edition of El Clásico ends with a 1-0 victory for FC Barcelona.  A tension-filled thriller, it was neither the prettiest nor the best played match in the history of this rivalry, but the effort and intent displayed by all involved in the match were unsurpassed.