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David Alaba celebrates his opening goal for Real Madrid at FC Barcelona
Photo:
ALBERT GEA / REUTERS
Scene of the game:
In Spain, not everyone should have been aware of what Real Madrid had caught for a wonderful left foot with David Alaba. The central defender had not yet scored a competitive goal for the capital city after his move from Bayern, of all places that changed in Clásico: In the 32nd minute Alaba sprinted forward on a counterattack after a corner, got the ball from Karim Benzema and pulled at full speed from the edge of the penalty area. The ball hit the right corner, untenable for the German goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen.
The result:
In addition to Alaba, Lucas Vázquez also scored for Real (90th + 4) and Sergio Agüero for Barcelona (90th + 7). Real won 2-1 (1-0) in one of the most prestigious games in the world. Or in what's left of it. For the fourth time in a row, by the way.
The starting position:
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi shaped the duel between the two largest Spanish clubs for years, after Ronaldo's departure to Italy in 2018, the Clásico took place this time without Messi. What remained on both sides were aging stars, who were alongside some very young super talents (Barcelona's Gavi was the youngest player in this century to play in the Clásico at 17 years and 80 days) in order to somehow achieve as much sporting success and thus income guarantee that the horrendous debt will not mean the end of the clubs.
First half: It
could have been different for Barcelona. Sergiño Dest missed the first big, actually huge chance when he appeared completely free in front of Thibaut Courtois after a single action by Memphis from around ten meters, but shot over the gate (25th minute). It should only be even more bitter for Barça that it was the last chance out of the game for a very long time. The Catalans only became dangerous via standards, such as a header from Gerard Piqué (35th). Otherwise the penetration against low-lying Madrilenians was lacking to counter the Alaba goal.
Koeman's precautionary measure:
Real did not have the (supposedly) goal-scoring defensive players exclusively. The controversial Ronald Koeman agreed to a tactical compromise for his possibly last meters as Barcelona coach: To protect the slow central defenders Piqué and Eric Garcia against Real's external missiles Vinícius and Rodrygo, the fast Jordi Alba built a three-way chain, Memphis left to keep falling on the left wing. The regular right-back Dest, on the other hand, played the right winger, which almost paid off in the 25th minute.
Second half:
It was like so often under Koeman: The basic principle was understandable, but the implementation was simply not consistent. A large part of Barcelona's attacking efforts were limited to high flanks, which hardly ever caused any significant danger. Benzema missed the preliminary decision twice (62nd, 72nd) before Vázquez dusted off after another counterattack in stoppage time to 2-0 (90th + 4th). The substitute Agüero only managed to catch up (90 + 7), it is his first competitive goal for Barcelona.
The outlook:
At Barcelona coach Koeman has been about to be expelled for months, the defeat in Clásico should not have improved his reputation, since 1940 no Barça coach has lost his first three Clásicos.
Above all, Koeman's style of play gives food for thought, there is hardly anything left of the systematic attacking game if you don't include standard situations.
Agüero's goal debut is making hope, but also that players like Fati, Gavi or the injured Pedri or Ousmane Dembélé have their best days ahead of them.
The question that remains is whether Koeman will get the chance to develop the team around her.
