The Catalan Review: 4 things to take from the weekend El Clasico

 Barcelona Striker Luis Suarez reacting after missing a chance in Saturday's El Clasico match against Real Madrid. Barca lost 2-1 in the tie (Photo Courtesy /BarcelonaWebsite).

Nothing pains a Catalan or Barcelona faithful than losing an El Clasico tie to their Arc-Rivals Real Madrid, the same would go for the opposite side. Perhaps one would trade a Clasico win with the title simply because it brings pride and dominance over the other. Of course this does not exclude the long rivalry between the club’s best attackers (Messi and Ronaldo) who have for almost decade made headlines sparking debates of who is the best between the pair. 

The 231^st edition of the historical encounter went in favor of the visitors who made their first Clasico win at Campo Nou since Mourinho achieved the same fete furing his tenure. Gerard Pique who has always found himself on the wrong side with Madrid fans brought the away fans to silence with a fine header. Everything was heading towards Barca’s favour before Karim Benzema slotted home the equalizer. However, the usual assassin for the Catalans, Cristiano Ronaldo slotted home the winner five minutes to time shocking the home crowd in the turn of events.

Let us look at key points to take from the match.

Zidane breaking the hoodoo

No Real Madrid manager has won their first Clasico debut since 2007, something that had left Catalans riding in high hopes that the French man would be no different with the others considering their coaching experiences. Juande Ramos was the first victim of the curse receiving a 2-0 beating at Camp Nou in 2008. Current Manchester City boss Manuel Palegrini followed in the line with a 1-0 loss at Camp Nou. Next in the list came ‘the special one’ Jose Mourinho who met a merciless Barca side led by Pep Guardiola orienting him with a 5-0 thrashing. La Decima winning manager Carlo Ancelotti later queued with a 2-1 loss before the latest casualty Rafa Benitez collected four goals at Santiago Barnabeu in the first leg.

Zinedine ‘Zizou’ Zidane entered the game having lost once and drawn twice in his 11 matches in charge of the Los Blancos. ‘Zizou’ knew very well about the catastrophe that has met his five predecessors but his reactions from the stands clearly showed how determined he was to pull something different. Although Real looked more defensive (at least that’s how to stop Barca) posing less threats to the Catalans upfont, the strategy did pay off at later stages of the game. Forget the three points or Clasico head-to-head record, Zidane’s reasons to be happy is probably breaking this curse. Have real found what they have been missing in Zidane? Well, plenty of more to come to prove that.

Enrique’s miscalculated subs

 Another mistake and three points are thrown, what a hard lesson to learn from your won mistake? The two teams were tied at 1-1 with Barcelona dominating most of the game. With the atmosphere growing wild as Real started showing signs of recovery, Enrique took off Ivan Rakitic and brought in Arda Turan. This was arguably a wrong decision by the manager having in mind the intensity of the game and that being Turan’s first Clasico debut. The Turkish could not pick up as quick as expected which allowed Real utilize his weakness to press Barca more to the wall. It took patience for The Los Blancos to find the winner despite being reduced to 10-men following Sergio Ramos’ send off.

A similar decision was made against Villarreal, bringing in Jeremy Mathieu who helped the hosts come from 2-0 down to draw level while Marc Bartra and Vamalean were available. Enrique however defended his decision later having in mind Rakitic had picked a yellow card and maybe he would have joined Ramos in the dressing room. But why choose Turan rather than Sergi Roberto much was much fit and available considering his experience in attack and tracking back? Some lessons for the big boss to take.

Madrid’s league title still alive

The win however left Real at third spot with 69 points, one adrift of second placed Atletico Madrid with 70 points. Barca still lead with 76 points with seven matches to go. Mathematically compiling the statistics, there are 21 points to trade for, a smaller margin that can turn the tables as it stands. A little slip on the way will prove costly to Barca and all they need now is concentration and continue with their job. 

It is with no doubt that the players feel the same burden as fans do and this is why Dani Alves passed a message of peace through the social media and well with some writings in his shirt before the match to calm down their fans spilling beats of hope. ‘PEACE IN THE WORLD PLEASE’ read the writings on the Brazilian shirt.

What remains to be seen is whether Zidane will lead Madrid to the league title as well as the Champions league where Wolfsburg awaits them in the last eight. Barca meanwhile need to forget the night and focus on Atletico Madrid, another huge test for Enrique, maybe even worse at this point where they are nursing injuries.