What a game that was! Real Madrid kept their spot atop La Liga as they not only defeated their mortal rivals in Barcelona in El Clasico, but they also ended their unbeaten start!
What a title race it is for Spain this season.
Real Madrid walked into Barcelona and defeated their old, fierce, and immortal rivals in FC Barcelona as they won 2-1 to stay both atop La Liga and end Barcelona’s own unbeaten run to start off the season. And, with this result, we really do have a great title race on our hands now.
I don’t know how many of you guys have been watching La Liga and the title race going on in Spain, but it has probably been one of the most compelling in all of the top-5 major European leagues. Not only have the traditional challengers, such as Real, Barcelona, and Atletico all gotten off to great, close starts, but there have also been new, unexpected challengers, such as Girona, added into the mix this season.
And, with Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Girona all separated by just a point going into El Clasico yesterday (Real: 25, Girona: 25, Barca: 24), this early season clash of the most fearsome and well-known rivalry in European football pretty much was determining factor as to who would set the title race pace until the next matchup. And it completely disappointed…well, sort of.
Okay, with Girona winning 1-0 in their own matchup and keeping pace with whoever was going to win El Clasico, it was pretty obvious that neither side wanted to lose the match. Whoever lost would not only have the disadvantage in the head-to-head matchup and goal differential, but they would also have to overcome both their arch nemesis AND Girona to win the title.
So, both sides playing reserved, probing football wasn’t unexpected, but it didn’t make for the best of watches or hold a candle to the epic showdowns we are used to seeing in the 2010’s. Honestly, Ilkay Gundogan’s miraculous, mistake-filled goal in the 6th minute to open up the scoring (and allow Barca to play far more passive than they would against any other team in Spain in their own backyard) was the perfect embodiment of the theme of this game.
Defenders fiddled around and just about cleared the ball…until they didn’t, and the opposing attacker would come in and strike home off a mistake. And, unfortunately for Barca fans, those defensive lapses would end up haunting them in the end…
But before we get to that, I do have to say Barcelona really did set the tempo of this game. Sure, they were at home (though not at the Camp Nou as it’s getting repairs for the entire season) and it would be expected they would dominate possession (52% vs. 48%), passing (546 passes vs. Real’s 507), and shots at target (15 vs. Real’s 13), though that’s not really what I mean with the tempo.
Rather, Barcelona had FAR BETTER chances than Madrid and were pushing the ball on Kepa Arrizabalaga’s goal for the vast majority of the contest with Fermin Lopez, who is one of Barca’s most promising youngsters, hitting the post once in the first half and then the bar early on in the second, Ronald Araujo forcing Kepa to make a great left arm save right after Lopez’ crossbar header, which is all on top of Gundogan’s crazy goal.
And, if this was Barcelona of yesteryear, they probably would have won this game and gained ground on Girona and another title, but it’s not. Despite winning the title last season, this Barca side is still building under Xavi and a few years away from really going toe-to-toe with Real Madrid. And Real proved it.
In their first defensive lapse, Fermin Lopez was too slow to challenge Jude Bellingham about 30-yards out from Marc-Andre Ter Stegen’s net, which allowed the English wonderkid to unleash an utter rocket into the top corner to tie the score and get Real Madrid back into the game.
Now, it might be a little harsh to call Lopez’s challenge (or lack thereof) an error given how FANTASTIC Bellingham is and how great his shot was, but that’s the reason why Barca needed to keep a man on Bellingham every time he touched the ball.
He’s just too dangerous to be given time to roam in the middle of the field…even if he’s 30-yards away from the box.
However, in stoppage time, Barca’s defensive errors really broke them as Oriol Romelu lost his man (you know who it was) in the buildup, and Inigo Martinez got caught underneath a deflected Dani Carvajal cross to allow…Jude Bellingham to once again get in behind the defense and flick home a game-winning strike to send Madrid back atop the league and defeat Barcelona.
Unlike Bellingham’s first goal, this was DEFINITELY a huge Barca error that very might cost them the title in the long run. Whether you want to blame Romelu or Martinez more doesn’t really matter as if you’re a member of Barcelona’s defense, you need to stand strong and keep Madrid and ESPECIALLY Bellingham away from the goal. And they just couldn’t do that as Bellingham now has an incredible 13 goals in 13 games to start off his Madrid career.
Obviously, it’s still way too early to say who will win La Liga, but Madrid now has the morale and points advantage (1st: Madrid-28 PTS, 2nd: Girona-28 PTS, 3rd: Barcelona-24 PTS) over their old foes.
Images Source: Featured Image:
