• sport

• World football

• Spanish league

Clasico with zero effort: What is left of the prestigious battle between Barcelona and Real Madrid?

Coman's despair, Laporta's guilt and what Ancelotti still lacks.

Michael Yochin explains why the former's greatest game in the world was overshadowed by the rest of the classics across the continent, and not just because of the longing for Messi and Ronaldo

Tags

• Barcelona in football

• Real Madrid

Michael Yochin

Monday, October 25, 2021, 12:30 p.m.

• Share on Facebook

• Share on WhatsApp

• Share on general

• Share on general

• Share on Twitter

• Share on Email

0 comments

• Summary: Maccabi Haifa - Slavia Prague 0: 1

• Summary: HYK Helsinki - Maccabi Tel Aviv 5: 0

• Brad Cox former MMA fighter attacks homeless

• Summary: Betar Jerusalem - Hapoel Haifa 1: 2

• Brooklyn Nets player Kyrie Irving

• Clashes in the stands of Betar Jerusalem fans following attempts ...

• Summary: Ajax - PSV Eindhoven 0: 5

• Barcelona fans attack Ronald Koeman's car

• The ten most beautiful Premier League goals by David Beckham ...

• Paris Saint-Germain player Lionel Messi

• Washington Wizards player Danny Abdia

• Summary: Rome - Naples 0: 0

Full summary: Manchester United - Liverpool 5: 0 (Sport 1)

El Clásico ... the biggest game of the year in the world.

This is how we got used to thinking for many years, but yesterday (Sunday) it was somehow doubtful whether the battle between Barcelona and Real Madrid was the big game of the specific day.

The game board across the continent has summoned many huge encounters, and Clasico was at best just another one of them.

Once it was the fierce battle between Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, then only Messi remained, and yesterday the flea was no more either.

Symbolically, the two main protagonists were involved in the other major games.

Cristiano was defeated 5-0 at Old Trafford by Liverpool and was lucky not to absorb a red card.

Compared to him, the Argentine achieved a better result, but he too can not be satisfied with his contribution to the resettled draw of Paris Saint-Germain in the "La Clásique" against Marseille.

And there may not have been goals at the Stade Velodrome, but in terms of game quality the show there was superior to Camp Nou.

When Mark-Andre Ter Stegen stated at the end of the final whistle that "no one deserved to win here", he expressed the general feeling of the neutral fans, who were hoping for something a little better.

Good to know (promoted)

The natural treatment that overcomes back pain - without leaving home

To the full article

Each in its own Clasico.

Messi and Ronaldo (Photo: Reuters)

Unfortunately for the German goalkeeper, Real still deserved a little more to take the points. After all, Sergio Aguero's shrinking goal at the last minute during injuries was just Barcelona's second kick to the frame in the entire game. If anyone had told Con before the start of the season that he would be the first to score in the Blaugrana uniform in the Clásico, he would probably have been happy, but the reality would have been different - he would not have even smiled. Because these are not easy days for the Argentine scorer. He signed at Barça specifically to play with his good friend Messi, and instead was forced yesterday to share the extension with Luc de Jong - a player so clumsy and so unsuitable for a team that sometimes seems to have been signed just to add comedic elements in the absence of other entertainment.

The comedy in the first half was provided by Serginio Dest who sent a ball into the sky from a particularly twinkling position after a fantastic preparatory work by Memphis DePay and Anso Patti.

The American defender is an effective and good player, but not really a scorer - and his combination as a right winger in a rather grotesque 3-3-4 formation.

The Barcelona squad does not currently have a player capable of filling that box in the absence of the injured Osman Dembele, which is one of the reasons why Yusuf Damir, who was initially assigned to the reserve team, is ahead of the senior team.

However, it is understandable that the Austrian is not yet due for class in the Clasico, so Dest would have continued to get the credit.

It ended in a huge miss once he could have sent the tackle to completely different tracks.

Instead, it was Real's defensive player who scored the winning goal.

A special star.

David Alaba (Photo: Reuters)

Well, David Alaba is a special star, and can not be defined as a brake or a defender. He is also a key contact, playmaker, winger and striker - and has played in these roles throughout his career. When asked yesterday what he thought when he galloped bursting into Ter Stegen's hair in the first Clasico of his life, the Austrian replied: "On the occupation." Real are very proud to have managed to sign him from Bayern Munich as a free agent, and even if the first weeks were not perfect to say the least in the home side, Alaba is a safe bet.

A first goal in the white uniform in the Clásico is worth a lot, and he proved great tactical flexibility on the way to the goal. It was a great improvisation, and Alaba was happy to get a free hand from Carlo Ancelotti to join so separately. He does not do this often and chooses the timing carefully. Yesterday it was perfect, and the two Brazilians - Vinicius and Rodrigo - engineered the move for him.

The statistics were not exactly on Barça's side at the time, as they had not made a comeback at the Clásico at the Camp Nou since October 1989, when new Dutch acquisition Ronald Koeman scored a pair of late penalties to bring in a 1-3 draw.

Koeman was then a lift, and his status was upgraded to a superhero when he scored the goal in the 1992 Champions Cup final against Sampdoria.

Who remembers it now, when his vehicle was attacked by hooligans at the end of the game yesterday?

The conduct of the administration headed by President Joan Laporta has a lot of guilt in the public attitude towards Koeman, although some of the frustration is understandable.

After all, Koeman sought to sign Luc de Jong, and Koeman also often bases the game on simple highs to the field.

Have not seen a comeback in the Clasico at the Camp Nou since his penalty shootout.

Ronald Koeman (Photo: GettyImages, Soccrates Images)

To that end, he also sends to the front the brakes, and especially Gerard Pique. The veteran star was the one who scored the important winning goal against Dynamo Kiev in the Champions League in the middle of the week, and he is used to being a kind of goal striker when the team is behind. So here you go - and yesterday he was there too, and during injuries he knocked desperately with his fists on the grass when a promising attack was lost, and the referee did not just whistle for Pendel. And at that time, Real went out of their way to close the story.

Lucas Vasquez - Zinedine Zidane's man for special missions - remains so with Ancelotti.

In April, when he excelled at the Clasico but was injured and finished the season, many Real fans mourned his expected departure.

That battle against Barça could have been his last game in the white uniform after the parties failed to reach an agreement on a new contract.

However, the reunions were straightened out, and Essex recovered, and yesterday he was once again great as an energetic right-back who burns areas along the line.

The gallop to the breakaway was even more comfortable given Danny Carvajal’s combination as a substitute, and Lucas was in the right place to push in, following Ter Stegen’s shot from a Marco Asensio kick.

Pique was still lying on the other side of the field, while Eric Garcia was negligent in guarding.

It is no coincidence that Pep did not trust him.

Eric Garcia (Photo: Reuters)

Unlike Luc de Jong, Garcia has a Barça player profile.

He grew up in La Masia until the age of 16 when he was tempted to leave for Manchester City, and his return this summer was enthusiastically received.

It is no coincidence, however, that Pep Guardiola did not trust him - the young stopper specializes in managing the game from behind and is very precise in dedication, but when it comes to his original role he still has plenty of room for improvement.

The extent of his guilt at Vasquez's goal is great, because he was much closer to a deflected ball, but not nimble enough to get to it.

And maybe the level that Real presented does not really justify a victory, but it did what was required compared to the opponent - more efficient, more flexible, more dangerous mainly thanks to the energies of Vinicius, and in the bottom line more deadly.

That was enough to achieve a fourth consecutive victory in the Clasico, but not enough to make the spectators have much fun.

In the end, it was just another game yesterday.

Like Barcelona, ​​the image of the Clásico needs some restoration.

• Share on Facebook

• Share on WhatsApp

• Share on general

• Share on general

• Share on Twitter

• Share on Email

0 comments