Real Madrid vs Barcelona, La Liga - Messi makes his return from the bench but his team-mates had already finished Real off
Suarez celebrates his goal Photo: AFP
Revolution was in the air. Whistles of
cruel derision cut through the night as Rafael Benítez’s desperate
attempts to win over Real Madrid’s sceptical supporters collapsed
spectacularly here in the face of an irresistible Barcelona onslaught,
which took its place in the canon of El Clásico
masterclasses. If Benítez thought he was under pressure before, it was as nothing to the backlash he prepared to absorb for this stunning humbling. A sumptuous display by Luis Suárez, with two goals in Lionel Messi’s first match since September, threatened to hasten the Spaniard out of the Bernabéu exit doors faster than Cristiano Ronaldo – a player who has hardly looked unhappier – could carry him.
masterclasses. If Benítez thought he was under pressure before, it was as nothing to the backlash he prepared to absorb for this stunning humbling. A sumptuous display by Luis Suárez, with two goals in Lionel Messi’s first match since September, threatened to hasten the Spaniard out of the Bernabéu exit doors faster than Cristiano Ronaldo – a player who has hardly looked unhappier – could carry him.
Barcelona barely missed Messi
While a wider mood of unease had pervaded the build-up to this Clásico,
with snipers trained on the surrounding streets a mere eight days after
the atrocities in Paris, the discomfort belonged solely to Benítez and
his ramshackle players by the end. Seldom have Toni Kroos or Luka Modric
endured more chastening experiences in the all-white jersey. Seldom has
Cristiano Ronaldo slipped so far into the realm of anonymity. And
seldom have Barcelona fashioned such wondrous all-round play without
Messi, who returned late enough in the second half for the Catalan party
to be already starting.
At this
rate, Rafael Benítez’s reign at Real will be shorter even than those of
ephemeral predecessors Juande Ramos or Juan Ramón López Caro, neither of
whom lasted beyond six months here. Truly, Real were as awful as
Barcelona were peerless.
Suarez puts Barcelona ahead
There may have been no Messi, but Sergi Roberto proved a more than
capable understudy for the start of the evening. The 23 year-old, making
only his 15th start for Barcelona, sliced through Real’s dilatory
defence and timed his pass exquisitely for Luis Suárez, who displayed
all his quicksilver instincts with a lethal finish into the bottom
corner.
The Bernabéu fell silent at the spectacle of Barcelona’s mesmeric keep-ball, encapsulated by the magically elusive Sergio Busquets, described by coach Luis Enrique as the “most intelligent footballer I have ever coached”. Real responded fractiously, with Gareth Bale fortunate not to receive a yellow card for stamping on the ankles of Jordi Alba and Cristiano Ronaldo escaping even harsher punishment for an apparent elbow into the head of Dani Alves.
Iniesta celebrates his goal with substitute Messi
They looked half-paced and lethargic, mere pawns in the face of the slippery sorcery of Barcelona. But for a dart or two by Ronaldo, they received precisely what they deserved when Andrés Iniesta channelled all his Clásico experience into the deftest through-ball down the left to Neymar, who was onside by a millimetre as he angled his shot perfectly beyond the paws of Keylor Navas. Not for the first time, culpability rested with Luka Modric and Toni Kroos, oddly detached from the rest of the team as Benítez’s tactics backfired.
Ronaldo rues a missed chance
It is the starkest testament to Barcelona’s brilliance in lieu of Messi, watching inscrutably from the bench, that their past 19 goals in La Liga had all been scored by Neymar or Suárez. Theirs is the difference that Gareth Bale was bought to provide for Real, but he proved painfully ineffectual by comparison. There was a certain pathos in the sight of the Welshman, trying to show to his barrackers at the Bernabéu that he was willing to fight, chasing every lost cause and gesticulating madly at his team-mates to attack – even though they better understood Barça’s capacity for catching them on the counter.
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The one worry for Barcelona was the exit of Javier Mascherano, seemingly due to a recurrence of his groin injury, but they continued pouring forward at will, nearly exacting further punishment on Real when Suárez’s point-blank effort had to be headed off the line by Marcelo in the final move of a remarkably one-sided half.
Neymar celebrates his goal
Real did at least have the decency to muster a fleeting riposte, when James Rodríguez showed shades of his World Cup pyrotechnics for Colombia in leathering a strike that Claudio Bravo did brilliantly to tip wide. A revival was to be just an illusion, though. Iniesta was allowed to saunter past the inert duo of Modric and Kroos, playing the ball into the feet of Suárez. Duly, the Uruguayan executed a cute back-heel of which Johan Cruyff would have been proud, teeing up Iniesta to fire an Exocet of a shot into the back of the net.
Iniesta scores Barcelona's third
Benítez retreated back into his dug-out, possibly for purposes of self-preservation. His battleplan had not held up under this kind of remorselessly probing scrutiny, and he was still prone to decisions of the greatest peculiarity. Why bring on Isco for James, the man who had contrived Real’s one meaningful shot of the night, and not replace the abject Bale instead? As ever, it is a question to which only Benítez, beginning to bristle at the hostility of football’s most restive fanbase, has the answer.
Only his night was to become bleaker still, when the irrepressible Suárez applied a devastating coup de grâce. Naturally, it was Messi, coming on with half an hour left for the first time in two months, providing the lay-off for Suárez – starting to terrify Navas by his mere presence – to lift the ball crisply beyond the goalkeeper. A palpable despair, or perhaps mere resignation, engulfed this stadium. By the time substitute Isco was sent off for a wild hack on Neymar’s left knee, the all-white posters fluttered by Real’s supporters doubled instead as flags of surrender.
The Bernabéu fell silent at the spectacle of Barcelona’s mesmeric keep-ball, encapsulated by the magically elusive Sergio Busquets, described by coach Luis Enrique as the “most intelligent footballer I have ever coached”. Real responded fractiously, with Gareth Bale fortunate not to receive a yellow card for stamping on the ankles of Jordi Alba and Cristiano Ronaldo escaping even harsher punishment for an apparent elbow into the head of Dani Alves.
Iniesta celebrates his goal with substitute MessiThey looked half-paced and lethargic, mere pawns in the face of the slippery sorcery of Barcelona. But for a dart or two by Ronaldo, they received precisely what they deserved when Andrés Iniesta channelled all his Clásico experience into the deftest through-ball down the left to Neymar, who was onside by a millimetre as he angled his shot perfectly beyond the paws of Keylor Navas. Not for the first time, culpability rested with Luka Modric and Toni Kroos, oddly detached from the rest of the team as Benítez’s tactics backfired.
Ronaldo rues a missed chanceIt is the starkest testament to Barcelona’s brilliance in lieu of Messi, watching inscrutably from the bench, that their past 19 goals in La Liga had all been scored by Neymar or Suárez. Theirs is the difference that Gareth Bale was bought to provide for Real, but he proved painfully ineffectual by comparison. There was a certain pathos in the sight of the Welshman, trying to show to his barrackers at the Bernabéu that he was willing to fight, chasing every lost cause and gesticulating madly at his team-mates to attack – even though they better understood Barça’s capacity for catching them on the counter.
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The one worry for Barcelona was the exit of Javier Mascherano, seemingly due to a recurrence of his groin injury, but they continued pouring forward at will, nearly exacting further punishment on Real when Suárez’s point-blank effort had to be headed off the line by Marcelo in the final move of a remarkably one-sided half.
Neymar celebrates his goalReal did at least have the decency to muster a fleeting riposte, when James Rodríguez showed shades of his World Cup pyrotechnics for Colombia in leathering a strike that Claudio Bravo did brilliantly to tip wide. A revival was to be just an illusion, though. Iniesta was allowed to saunter past the inert duo of Modric and Kroos, playing the ball into the feet of Suárez. Duly, the Uruguayan executed a cute back-heel of which Johan Cruyff would have been proud, teeing up Iniesta to fire an Exocet of a shot into the back of the net.
Iniesta scores Barcelona's thirdBenítez retreated back into his dug-out, possibly for purposes of self-preservation. His battleplan had not held up under this kind of remorselessly probing scrutiny, and he was still prone to decisions of the greatest peculiarity. Why bring on Isco for James, the man who had contrived Real’s one meaningful shot of the night, and not replace the abject Bale instead? As ever, it is a question to which only Benítez, beginning to bristle at the hostility of football’s most restive fanbase, has the answer.
Only his night was to become bleaker still, when the irrepressible Suárez applied a devastating coup de grâce. Naturally, it was Messi, coming on with half an hour left for the first time in two months, providing the lay-off for Suárez – starting to terrify Navas by his mere presence – to lift the ball crisply beyond the goalkeeper. A palpable despair, or perhaps mere resignation, engulfed this stadium. By the time substitute Isco was sent off for a wild hack on Neymar’s left knee, the all-white posters fluttered by Real’s supporters doubled instead as flags of surrender.
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