FC Barcelona vs Real Madrid, 2-2

[flywoman]

With international qualifiers right around the corner, I was happy to see that the Argentinians and Spaniards were still showing affection for their Seleccion teammates despite the usual tensions attendant on El Clasico. Otherwise, the first part of the game was frankly terror-inducing, especially given that Tito had opted to replace injured central defenders Carles Puyol and Gerard Pique with... wait for it... left-back Adriano Correia instead of Marc Bartra or our newly purchased supposed CB substitute, Alex Song. Still, even he was more effective in his unaccustomed position than right-back Dani Alves, who luckily was injured early in the game and had to be replaced by the recently promoted and always awesome Martin Montoya. By then, Cristiano Ronaldo had already scored his first, and Karim Benzema had come ludicrously close to scoring another (although fortunately for us, he choked completely in front of goal and sent his shot way wide).

Man of the Match was definitely Lionel Messi, who tracked a cross from Pedro Rodriguez as it pinballed among the RM defense and finally slammed it past Iker Casillas with his left foot. In the second half, our Leo scored again, this time off a free kick into Casillas' top right corner that was truly beautiful to behold. But not to be outdone, Ronaldo scored his second goal five minutes later, and although the Barcelona players had several good chances in the last fifteen minutes, including a hard shot off the crossbar by Montoya and a tragic miss by Pedro, they were held to a draw.

Bottom line: we could have either lost or won by several additional goals, so I've decided that I'm happy with the result. Although where Pepe gets off criticizing our players for diving is beyond me, especially after a particularly brutal game by Xabi Alonso that could have ended in expulsion. And Andres Iniesta really should have been awarded that PK.

Comments

[bleeding-dry.livejournal.com]

Wait, Adriano's normal position is left back. He was turned into a makeshift center back for the match.

[flywoman.livejournal.com]

Yes... he was originally a left mid according to reports I've read, played for Barcelona as a substitute left back until Abi had to step down (and is now competing with Jordi Alba for the position), and yesterday played central defense. Sorry if I phrased that in a confusing way in the review.

[bleeding-dry.livejournal.com]

Playing as a midfielder came later. He's definitely a left back originally - I think he's never played as anything else on the NT. If you see his wiki in Portuguese, they mention him as left back - local comms here in Brazil only mention him as left back too. Where did you read he was a midfielder?

[flywoman.livejournal.com]

Hrrm... I believe that I read it in a recent match preview speculating on what Tito might do about his central defense situation, but I have no idea where. Anyway, I can edit the piece - it's hardly the essential point, which is that he's not at all accustomed to playing the CB position.

[bleeding-dry.livejournal.com]

I know it's not important at all, sorry if I came across too hard :( It's just that I'm so used to foreign media spreading wrong information about local players... I try to point it out when I see it.

[flywoman.livejournal.com]

No worries, I should not trust everything I read, that's for sure!

[sageharper.livejournal.com]

lol exactly, it looks like he so wants to give Iker's arse a pinch (on a clearly less shallow note; that kit is great, blue really suits him, great improvement on 'the radio active grapefruit + traffic cone socks' situation). I miss Puyi terribly, but the Xaviker cuteness is keeping me warm.
No seriously I did look out for the bromances and it was so sweet, and they did seem a bit calmer than usual overall.

I'm not quite sure why people still call Dani Alves a right-back, he's just sort of there and does whatever. Which is usually ok, but not when we need to be solid at the back.
Montoya was really good, and you can tell he's only going to get better.

I always get disproportionally upset if Ronaldo scores, like if it was anyone else then could have made peace with it (unless it meant we lost) ... but yeah him and his stupid hair, not so much.
He still can't take a free kick though, actually all the RM set pieces went wonky and that was the weirdest thing. Hello you're playing FC hobbits, lob the ball over the top, but nobody wanted to. Can't complain too much though.

That free kick was a true thing of beauty; apparently Barca hasn't scored directly off a free kick in a clasico since, ever really, so that's encouraging. Shame he didn't get a hat trick.

Did Casillas even make a save the whole match? ... legitimate question. Seemed like everything missed, or happened the other end, or indeed Messi's brace.
Apparently there's a faction of Madrid fans that are freaking out that he's below par, but I can't really tell obviously.

I have no idea why Xabi didn't get sent off either, and he's supposed to be a calm classy one. Pepe is mad as a box of frogs so kind of expected that, but yes really ... might want to look at your own squad first. Anyway Andres has never dived in his life, surely.

The fact we managed to get a draw against 'the league champions' with a totally makeshift defence is a pretty damn good testament to our club's ethos and talents.
That or Madrid are seriously losing the plot if they can't even win against a team that's so ropey at the back.
Or both.
Either way, I'm honestly pretty ok with the result.

[flywoman.livejournal.com]

lol exactly, it looks like he so wants to give Iker's arse a pinch (on a clearly less shallow note; that kit is great, blue really suits him, great improvement on 'the radio active grapefruit + traffic cone socks' situation).

Totally agree with this, both the appearance of barely suppressed arse fondling and the vast superiority of Iker's blue kit to the radioactive tangerine/traffic cone monstrosity.

I'm not quite sure why people still call Dani Alves a right-back, he's just sort of there and does whatever.

I feel like if we didn't already have such a brilliant midfield, Tito should just put him at right mid and let him run back and forth and pass to Messi to his heart's content.

but yeah him and his stupid hair, not so much

Ahahaha, his hair was especially obnoxious last night for sure.

Shame he didn't get a hat trick.

I know, right? You can bet that he would have been much happier about his goals if they had resulted in a 3-2 victory, anyway.

Did Casillas even make a save the whole match?

Hmm... can't remember one, tbh.

Pepe is mad as a box of frogs so kind of expected that, but yes really ... might want to look at your own squad first. Anyway Andres has never dived in his life, surely.

Totally agree with both of these statements!

[sageharper.livejournal.com]

Good to know it's not just me (you'd think he would have diffrent gloves to match the blue kit though). :)

That would make a lot of sense, or even as a winger maybe; but yes who would you displace.

Even my dad was like 'omg what is that', then C.Ron tapped his temple after the goal and like 'uh yeah stop reminding us'.
Who lets him do these things? Between him, Sese, and Iker, then Xabi must regularly feel like the only sober person at a party, fashion speaking.

Think everyone would have been, and then could take the ball home for his little boy because clearly doesn't already have enough.

You'd get a whole DVD boxset out of footage of their fouls, it's crazy.