After the 1st Leg of the Spanish Super Cup which also doubled as the part 1 of the Clasico for the 2011-2012 season, the stage was set for a thrilling 2nd leg affair at the Camp Nou. Barcelona's pre-match preparations was boosted by the news that Cesc Fabregas has finally joined the ranks after a protracted transfer saga that finally came to a happy end for the Spanish club and the former Arsenal captain.
Barcelona had a different line-up from the one which started the 1st leg at the Bernabeu. Xavi, Pedro and Pique came into the side in place of Adriano, Thiago A, and Alexis who would have started but for a slight injury he picked up in the warm up. New signing, Fabregas was on the bench. Mourinho decided to bring in Coentrao fro Marcelo at left back. That was the only alteration to the team that drew 2-2 three days prior.
Just as 3 days ago, the match began with RealM putting pressure on the Blaugrana defence with Pique uncharacteristically playing the ball to the opponents.. Ronaldo had 3 shots in the opening minutes of the encounter, but none went past Valdes....game still remained 0-0. But games don't remain scoreless for long especially when you have the 'colossal' Lionel Messi in your team and predictably, it was his brilliance that carved the first real opening of the gripping match.....he found the ball in the midfield, shrugged off Khedira, moved the ball forward and then passed an incredible through ball to Iniesta with Carvalho and Pepe looking in awe......Iniesta duly chipped the ball over the onrushing Iker Casillas and into the net to give Barca a 1-0 lead on the night, and 3-2 on agg.
Madrid got the equalizer against the run of play when a corner was half cleared and Ronaldo diverted a hopeful cross into the Barcelona net to draw his team level on the night and on agg. There was some controversy as to who scored the goal, but in the end, it was credited to Ronaldo.
Barcelona were unruffled and continued to play the waiting game despite RealM's resistance. Their patience however paid off on the stroke of half time after a corner wasn't cleared to safety and pique's stylish backheeled pass found MESSI who did the rest by sending Casillas the wrong way to restore Barca's advantage both on the night and overall 2-1,4-3 #Barcelona. Half time scores.
As the 2nd goal half began, Mourinho tinkered and made a change, sending Marcelo, who was surprisingly dropped for coentrao, in to replace defensive midfielder, Sami khedira. coentrao took sami's position with marcelo playing left wing back. Madrid pressed and pressed, but the equalizing goal still eluded them. There were some rash challenges, but none like the ones that caused a lot of worry last season. Mourinho introduced Kaka and Higuain to help the attack and it paid off 8 minutes from the end, when a kaka corner was not cleared properly again and to the disbelief of the catalans, Benzema made no mistake from 3 yards to poke the ball past Valdes...2-2,4-4 on agg.. Cesc Fabregas who had just come on, had a hand in the winner three minutes from the end, when his combination with adriano, culminated with the brazilian sending a beautifully lofted low shot which unfortunately for 'the whites', fell into the path of the impeccable messi, who made no mistake scoring the winner and his 13th clasico goal,leaving him just 3 behind the Legendary Raul and 5 behind the great DI STEFANO as the highest goal scorers in el clasico duels. Iker must be tired of seeing the pint-sized argentine wizard, but it is rather unlucky that he will continue bear the brunt for years to come. Game over 3-2 on the night 5-4 on agg.
The game was all but over now for Mourinho's men as they had fallen again at the hands of Barcelona. What happened next shook the entire football world.........a criminal tackle by Marcelo on Fabregas was immediately punished by referee, David Fernandez, who showed the young brazilian a straight red. There and then , both teams went berserk, confronting each other as if they were in some kind of zoo or forest. Villa, who up till that moment was never really a controversial lad, apparently abused Ozil's religion (Islam). the german star was displeased and attempted severally to challenge the all time highest goal scorer in Spanish Football history (National team), but was restrained by players and staff of both teams...the ref was not particularly happy with their behaviour and he sent them off too... by sending off three players, a new record was set...It was the very first time in the 109 year history of el clasico matches that 3 players were sent off in one game. The fracas did not end there...Mourinho couldn't be left out of the whole mess could he???? During the fall-out, he decided it was time to play some childish games and then pulled the ear of the assistant manager of Barca, Francesc Vilanova-------popularly known as Tito or Tito Vilanova. Tito was furious and acted in self defence, pushing the Madrid manager too. This was the height of dishonour for the beautiful game and shamefully, Mourinho was part of it. Kaka once again showed his elegance and humility by distancing himself from the whole embarrassment.
Despite the whole debacle, Barcelona went on to celebrate their hard earned victory over Madrid.....but yet another clasico ended in bad blood.
Ohireime Eboreime
follow me on twitter @ohiskaka1990
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