Peerless Barcelona Eviscerate Real Madrid 5-0 In One-Sided Clasico (Video)

Ollie Irish

30th, November 2010

21 Comments

By Ollie Irish

Unreal…

So much for my prediction of a 1-0 Madrid win. Barca annihilated and humiliated Real at the Camp Nou, putting on the greatest display of team football I have ever seen. Seriously. At least, I think that’s what I think. I had taken a few ales at the time. But I don’t think it’s too wide of the mark – this is an astoundingly good football team.

Xavi and co. played football to a level that the best English clubs can only dream of. Barca’s passing was so crisp, their movement off the ball so fluid and purposeful, their hunger to get the better of Mourinho and Ronaldo so blatant… I could go on. More than anything, I was mesmerised by the speed of Barcelona’s attacking play, even when they passed backwards with a view to finding a new opening – which by the way, is something many English sides are terrible at doing.

Nowhere was the difference in the two sides more apparent than in the headline Messi vs Ronaldo showdown. Messi shone but he also took his medicine like a man, getting up with hardly a complaint after being knocked down on several occasions; Ronaldo meanwhile gave a display notable only for its outrageous petulance, most shamefully when he shoved Pep Guardiola in the chest:

No need for that, obviously. Guardiola reacted with dignity, as ever.

Of course, the kicker here is that Mourinho faaacked up royally and made life way too easy for Barcelona. In starting with Mesut Ozil over Lassana Diarra, Mourinho conceded the midfield even before the first whistle – and come on, that was always going to happen. You don’t concede the midfield when your opponents’ team sheet contains words such as ‘Xavi’ and ‘Iniesta’. You just don’t do that.

It’s most unlike Jose to drop the ball so badly (until last night, he had never managed a team that lost by more than three goals), even if his Real team is very much a work in progress. Usually Mourinho’s head rules his heart, ruthlessly, which is why his teams win so many crunch matches. Here it was the other way around, as if he too was blinded by the pre-game hype; Ozil was little more than a spectator in the first half and it was a no-brainer when the young German was replaced by Diarra at half-time.

Mourinho is nothing if not smart though, and he will figure out a way to deal with Barca when they visit the Bernabeu later in the season. And for all the weight given to this match, it is only one game in a long season. Real may not lose again until Barca pay the return visit; Mourinho’s teams tend to be very efficient flat-track bullies, whereas Barcelona, for all their brilliance, are prone to have the odd stinker now and then. This Liga season is not over yet.

PS. I highly recommend Sid Lowe’s review of this match for the Guardian. Very good indeed.

Posted in Barcelona, La Liga, Real Madrid, Skills, Videos

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21 Comments

  1. fatcowxlive says:

    Lol, I’m a Madrid fan and i didn’t feel sad at all. Our defense was utter shit we also lost control of the midfield, and when u let barca have that control, your screwed. But honestly if we played well ill be sad, but hey we sucked so much, we deserve the loss. April is the next clasico at the santiago maybe we will improve. We just need to focus on valanca and pick up three points.

  2. Paulo says:

    wow Ronaldo & Ramos is really terrible…i am a fan of Madrid but players behaving this way is shameful…

  3. robbiedavids says:

    Unbelievable performance by Barcelona, but can’t quite help feeling that Mourinho was conned hook line and sinker http://wp.me/p1cykJ-39

  4. pieman says:

    LOVE IT.

  5. tapioca says:

    Better to completely suck and have your ass handed to you, than to have played well and suffered similar! Maybe Jose realised that Madrid were never going to win and just wanted to drum up a little sympathy before his UEFA hearing today….

  6. Anthony Hopkins says:

    I was kind of hoping Real would have won last night just to wipe the smugness of Barca’s face but they were so fucking incredible last night you have to applaud them.

    But as well as Barca playing great Real were shocking, I guess Mourinho went with Ozil because he’s been so good for Real so far why change a winning formula, but clearly it didn’t work.

    Also the Guardiola Ronaldo incident was nothing, if anything Pepe was purposefully trying to wind up Ronaldo, Ronaldo did nothing wrong in my opinion.

    And to people who keep saying this proves Messi is better than Ronaldo, please shut up, these are the 2 best players in the world by a mile, the big difference being Barca’s team has pretty much been unchanged for several years and players like Messi, Xavi and Iniesta know each others game so well where as Ronaldo is with a fairly newly built young team who are still learning. Just be glad we can see both these greats play.

    I still think Real can win La Liga.

  7. Nick says:

    I chose to watch my first game in 3D last night, and may have just watched the finest and most complete performance by any team that I have ever witnessed. It was just the most extraordinarily unified performance from 11 players so dedicated to a style of play, that it looked like Real were playing a team of test tube clones. Ronaldo and co seemed utterly bewildered as if they were being swept around like leaves in a breeze, helpless as they were pulled and upturned by the measured, pressing passing.

    Mourinho will return, face purple from a 5 fingered Catalan slap, still as bullish and charming as ever. CR7 will eventually be spotted smiling and strutting in his swimwear. But this one has hurt Madrid badly, and if they’re going to escape the tag of being flat track bullies, they’re going to have to prove that they can come up with a plan to counteract their willow-the-wisp tormentors.

  8. Russ says:

    haha! You don’t see in the replay but after Ronaldo pushed Guardiola in the chest the Catalan coach instinctively grabbed his face a few moments later :D

    @Anthony Hopkins – I’m not so sure why Messi can be one of the “two best players in the world by a mile” when the real stars of Barcelona are Xavi and Iniesta. Messi provides the glitz and he is obviously a good player but Xavi would make more of a difference to most clubs.

    Messi needs Barca – players like Xavi, Drogba and Ronaldo could fit into any side, which is what makes them great.

  9. Nuno says:

    @Russ – Indeed Messi has Xavi and Iniesta behind him, but Messi’s ball control is just unbelievable! He sometimes really seems to have glue in his boots by the way he controls the ball and slaloms around everybody. And there have been already a few goals where he incredibly chips the ball over the keeper.
    But this game was just perfect from Barcelona. Not even in PES or FIFA can you play this fast and with such accurate passes.
    One thing I have to notice and that nobosy has said is just the attitude of Valdes all along the game. Whenever there was a little confusion there he went running 50 meters to push up somebody. But then again, Barça could play with no keeper and still win, given that Real barely done any shoot on goal… guess he was just too bored and had to do something for people to remember he was in play!

  10. jojo says:

    i feel priviliged to have witnessed with my own eyes the greatest football team of all time. they’re doing this for the third year in row now, no luck or coincidence, pure class, and I am not even a barca fan.

    masterclass:
    lesson no. 1: the ball is always quicker than the player.
    lesson no. 2: on the ball movement is not necessary, off the ball movement is essential.

    I hope mourinho was taking notes.

  11. Russ says:

    @Nuno – I agree he can be sublime. I’ve not seen that much of him in all honesty apart from highlights (which are always good :D ). But I have a few friends who have seen him live and also watching him for Argentina makes me think that he needs the support/tactics in order to shine.

    @jojo – do you think they are a greater side than the mouthwatering 08/09 Barca side? Do you think they could improve beyond that? I am a huge Villa fan and was really excited when they signed him :D (if only he’d gone to Spurs ;-) )

  12. Luis says:

    I’m suprised ollie hasn’t wrote an article on why Real should’ve won the game considering he dosen’t have a notion about football.

  13. Julian says:

    wow, what a madridista report, and madridista comments. hadnt realised this was a pro-madrid site

  14. chris allen says:

    i think this is the best football team that has ever graced the sport.

    they work for each other, let the ball do the work, are unselfish (to a fault). they’re not even the most athletic team, but their skill and footballing brains are miles and miles ahead.

    hear hear:
    “masterclass:
    lesson no. 1: the ball is always quicker than the player.
    lesson no. 2: on the ball movement is not necessary, off the ball movement is essential.”

    Xavi is the best player i have ever seen.
    mourinho is a prick.

  15. S-League Player says:

    A game which signifies all that is different about both clubs:

    Barcelona are a complete team. They know what each other is going to do before receiving the ball and when and where their team mates will be at any point in time. It’s incredible the fluidity at which Barcelona plays.

    Real are just a group of players TRYING to play as a team but mostly relying on a few great players to work something on the pitch for them. Can they reach Barcelona’s level? Given a few more seasons together and if they aren’t chopped and changed as is Perez’s wont to do, then sure, why not? BUT the REAL question is: when they do reach Barca’s level, who’s to say Barca will not have evolved into something greater altogther?

  16. danielkordel says:

    Mourinho and Gaynaldo = two biggest pieces of turd in world’s football

  17. upper90 says:

    Barcelona were awesome the other night but does this mean La Liga is better than the Prem?

    Have a read of this…

    http://upper90magazine.wordpress.com/2010/12/01/premier-league-vs-la-liga/

  18. Alex says:

    quality performance, one of the best team performances ever? why not give this a read? comparing the premier league and la liga http://upper90magazine.wordpress.com/2010/12/01/premier-league-vs-la-liga/ cheers

  19. Glen says:

    Casillas is the most overrated player in history.

  20. […] a brilliantly edited HD video of last Monday’s Clasico, when Barcelona demolished rivals Real Madrid with football from another planet (Planet Football?). […]

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