Match Report: Barcelona 5 Real Madrid 0

José Mourinho’s Real Madrid side were thrashed 5-0 by bitter rivals Barcelona in a game that brought back memories of the famous 2-6 win two seasons ago. The home side were on top throughout but in the second half in particular their domination was so great that it was frightening. In the end the away side were out-fought, out-thought, out-passed and out-played.

There was a surprise start for Karim Benzema who replaced the injured Higuaín up front for the visitors. Apart from that, Real Madrid were at full strength just like the home side. The game started in a fast and furious manner with Iniesta fouling Cristiano Ronaldo within the first minute. Some heavy rain had made the pitch slippery but despite that Barcelona soon got into their passing rhythm. On five minutes Leo Messi almost invented a goal out of nothing when his beautiful chip beat Casillas but came back off the inside of the post. The away side were struggling to get any foothold in the match and five minutes after Messi hit the post the home side went in front. Iniesta was given time and space to pick a pass and he slid a perfect ball through to Xavi. The midfielder thought his chance had gone when Marcelo seemed to beat him to the ball but the Brazilian defender couldn’t control the ball correctly and it fell kindly for the Barcelona player who calmly lifted it over Casillas.

Clearly shocked, the away side tried to react and almost got level through a quick counter attack which ended with Di María having a shot tipped over by Valdés. Two minutes later Real had another chance when Cristiano Ronaldo crossed for Benzema but Abidal just got there first to knock the ball behind for a corner. Although the visitors were coming into the game, the home side always looked dangerous going forward and on 18 minutes doubled their lead when Casillas spilled a Villa cross and Pedro stole in to tap home. The second goal exposed major weaknesses in the Real Madrid defense not least of all Marcelo’s lack of awareness as he failed totally to track Pedro’s run.

With the visitors now 2-0 down they needed to show some character but in fact the home side got even more on top of the game and started to dominate possession. On 27 minutes another excellent through ball split the Real defense and Casillas had to rush from his line to prevent Pedro scoring his second of the night. With Barcelona dominating, the away side started to lose their temper and there was a bit of handbags on 31 minutes when Ronaldo pushed Guardiola as he tried to get the ball to take a throw in. The Portuguese star was clearly irritated at how badly the evening was going and as usual resorted to long range shots which were easily gathered by Victor Valdés. However, the Real Madrid player did have a penalty claim on 39 minutes when he went down under a Valdés challenge. The referee decided to award a goal kick and television replays seem to be inconclusive as to who touched the ball first. The half ended with the home side enjoying 65% of the possession.

Trailing 2-0 at the break, Mourinho decided to bring on Lass Diarra for the ineffectual Ozil. However the change seemed to make absolutely no difference and two minutes into the half Casillas did well to save a Villa shot after Messi had stolen possession and provoked a goalmouth scramble. Five minutes later it really should have been 3-0 when Xavi got on the end of an excellent Messi through ball but hit his shot into the side netting with Casillas beaten. At this point Real Madrid couldn’t get out of their own half as they constantly gave the ball away. In fact throughout the game the gulf in passing ability between the sides was monumental and on 55 minutes the inevitable happened. Messi picked the ball up and for the umpteenth time in the game the Real Madrid defense was opened up by a through ball and Villa slammed home giving Casillas no chance.

Three minutes after going 3-0 up the home side added a fourth when Messi slipped a beautiful pass through for Villa who easily beat Casillas in a one on one situation. The goal was clearly a huge weight of Villa’s shoulders and showed once again that the Spanish internationalist is a big game player. By this time Real Madrid had totally collapsed as Mourinho’s lack of a B plan was horribly exposed. Indeed the home side looked like scoring every time they went forward while Real Madrid looked absolutely shell shocked at what has happening.

With the result no longer in doubt, Barcelona started to pass the ball around for fun. The home crowd were of course lapping it up as Real Madrid players chased shadows. Whether this was Barcelona trying to psychologically wound their rivals or whether it was simply Barcelona being Barcelona we really don’t know but the gulf between the two sides has never looked greater than it did for the twenty or so minutes after the fourth Barcelona goal.

The visitors quite simply had nothing to offer and even star man Cristiano Ronaldo didn’t look like he wanted the ball. With fifteen minutes remaining, Guardiola decided to make his first change with Bojan replacing Villa. Barely seconds after coming on the young striker could have added the fifth when he was sent through but he lost his footing and the chance was gone. A minute later, Bojan tried to make up for missing when he cut inside the Real defense and stung the palms of Casillas with a good shot. On 41 minutes Barcelona made two more changes with Keita replacing Xavi and Jeffren replacing Pedro. Only minutes after coming on the latter added the fifth goal to complete a memorable night for the home side. Bojan crossed the ball and had the simple task of knocking the ball home. With the humiliation almost complete Real Madrid started to lose their temper and Ramos was shown a red card in the last minute for either trying to kick Messi or for pushing Puyol in the face. Either way it was a red card and with that the torture was complete.

Tags: Barcelona, Cristiano Ronaldo, David Villa, El Clásico, Guardiola, Jose Mourinho, Messi, Real Madrid, Xavi