Real Madrid 0 – 3 Barcelona – match recap from Madrid’s embarrassing loss
By Alex McVey
FC Barcelona dismantled Real Madrid by a score of 3-0. Real Madrid’s first half efforts were undone by a calamitous second half. Here’s your match recap.
First Half
The first half was a simmering, tactical chess-match that left both sides going into the halftime without a goal. But don’t let the lack of goals fool you, this was an exciting first half of football.
Real Madrid had the best of the half overall. Their intense pressing scheme had Barcelona in tatters in the midfield. Zidane’s intelligent decision to pack the midfield and use Kovacic to shadow Messi payed dividends. Madrid were constantly winning the ball in the midfield, passing through Barcelona’s lines, and creating dangerous opportunities in Barcelona’s half.
Ronaldo found the back of the net in the opening minutes of the match, but his strike was ruled offside. Madrid continued to torment Barcelona throughout the first half, but couldn’t find the back of the net. Ter Stegen did really well on a few occasions to deal with Madrid, and Pique also played his part in snuffing out the final ball.
Barcelona also had a few great opportunities on the counter, and even began to control possession late into the first half. Keylor Navas was forced into action on at least two occasions, and proved a worthy adversary for Barcelona’s attackers.
Second Half
Everything good that Madrid were doing in the first half stopped in the second. If the half-time is a sign of the manager’s influence, Zidane got completely outclassed by Valverde here. Madrid’s intensity in the press was gone, and Barcelona began controlling the match with calm and composure.
Barcelona did well to figure out Madrid’s tactical ploys and exploit their weaknesses. In the first half, Kovacic did well to shadow Messi and control his outlets. For Barcelona’s first goal, Kovacic was caught out trying to perform the same act. But this time, Kovacic evacuated a whole acre of space in Madrid’s box. Carvajal was caught up the pitch, and couldn’t get back to stop an onrushing Luis Suarez.
At this point, Madrid’s defense was in absolute shambles. Barcelona passed through Madrid with ease, and Madrid were pure chaos in the box. Barcelona were allowed two or three shots in the box in a row, and Dani Carvajal decided it would be a good idea to blatantly use his hand to block the shot right in front of the referee. Carvajal was sent off, and Messi stepped up to take a blistering penalty which ended Real Madrid’s title hopes in an instant.
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From that point on, Barcelona were in total control of the match. Barca began playing keep-away from Madrid to prevent Zidane from bringing on his substitutes. And Zidane had to make a tactical shuffle and replace Karim Benzema with Nacho, instead of bringing on Asensio and Bale who had been queued up.
Once Bale and Asensio were on the pitch, Madrid looked better, but there was no coming back against Barcelona. Messi & Co. controlled the ball with ease, and Madrid had to settle for a few counter-attacks here and there. Bale created some danger, but simply did not have the support to do anything with it.
Just to add insult to injury, Aleix Vidal scored a goal deep into added minutes after another bit of effort from Leo Messi. Real Madrid’s excellent effort in the first half was long forgotten, as Barcelona totally dismantled Real Madrid in front of their home crowd.
With that, Barcelona pull 14 points ahead of Madrid, and we can now call Madrid’s title hopes done and dusted. Real Madrid are in serious trouble, and, rightly or wrongly, serious questions will begin to be asked about Zidane’s job security at Madrid.