Last season ended bitterly when the two football giants played 4 intense matches in 17 days. People were hoping for some great football in 2 weeks but sadly there were more controversies than footballing action. You can compare it to a battle field without weapons to be precise.
The Spanish 2011/2012 season started out with 2 Clasicos in 4 days. People expected controversy, fighting and abuses but it came out quite clean (except the last 20 seconds, It’s a Clasico there has to be some).
Being a Barcelona supporter, I will be not be proud to say this but in the first leg Real Madrid were the better team and we were saved of any sort of embarrassment thanks to Victor Valdes(VV) and our defenders, especially Mascherano.
After the last season this was the first time I actually saw Barcelona playing under pressure. But we did great. We could not get our ‘style’ on but we never lost hope and kept on fighting. We were a goal down by 12 mins(could have been more but we showed that we can defend too). We took the lead with what I call a spectacular and top class goal from Villa (our first shot on target) and a typical Messi action(Our second shot) by half time. They also scored after half time.It ended in 2-2 which was fantastic. We had the so called away goal ‘advantage’(With Madrid there is no advantage till the match has been ended).
Fans may be thinking that this year Barca won’t be able to live up to the standard they have set. But look at it from a different angle. Pep (Our Main Man) put his players on rest .The pre-season included players mostly from the B Team. This is no excuse but we had a fantastic season last year and all of them deserved rest. I doubt Messi might have trained the players for more than 2 or 3 days. As a Barca fan I'm used to Barca not playing 'their' game at the start, freaking their fans out. But then when you see some creative passing between Messi,Iniesta and Xavi you are just waiting for a Goal to come. This system is different. No one can tell who plays where till when. Messi is all around the place, Xavi and Iniesta passing the ball in the oppositions half, David Villa and Pedro excahnging sides, Dani alves in the attacking side when there is possession and in the defensive half when the ball is lost. Mascherano plays either CB,CDM. Abidal LB or CB, Pique a dummy attacker when needed. The system changes but the game remains the same. It feels as if they all are in their natural positions. For this we need practice and exercise which we lacked and which Madrid had a lot due to their fantastic pre-season.With Fabregas in now we have variety as well as talent. Now I think I’m diverting from the topic. The Fabregas Saga next time maybe. Back to Super Copa.
17th August 11 pm Spanish Time , 2:30 am Indian time, fingers crossed. We were in our fortress now. The Squad looked strong. Fabregas included equals more excitement. From the first leg experience I was sure not to underestimate Real Madrid. 40 secs and Ronaldo had a shot. VV our Savior. This time our strategy was different. We were actually defending. When the ball came in possession the Messi , Xavi and Iniesta passing slowly started and our wingers (Villa and Pedro) started to move ahead slowly. Real Madrid started going in their half (Villa's goal still in their minds). This went on. Both the teams looked even. No one dominated.
Then it’s our typical Messi who had to take the initiative, dodged a few players and sent out a killer pass to Iniesta (who had changed his position).GOALLLLL!!!!. A small flick over Casillas. A sigh of relief. But still there was time left. Barcelona in full form and so was Madrid. Ronaldo equalized(not sure if it was offside or not but we are Barca, we never complain, we fight back).Now they had 1 away goal and needed only one more. After that it anything would be their advantage. Again Messi with his killer instincts took a shot and 2-1 at half time. Till 60 mins i felt like we would keep it that way. Pep subbed Adriano for Villa, Kieta for Busquets (Villa went for Adriano, now tensed). Kaka came on for Madrid. With a bad corner by Kaka and a poor clearance , they somehow equalized(2-2). Now Fabregas in(in doubtful emotions now). My thought process had stopped woking. The only things that ran in my mind were in a form of a slide show. No Pedro and Villa. Fingers crossed. 3 mins left. Praying for extra time and suddenly GOALLLLLL!!!!! Messi charging in , Adriano with a low cross, and Fabregas starting the move. It was ours. We had to hang on now (for 7 mins more including ET). 93:50 there was a commotion which i consider as an integral part of the Clasico. I dont want to write about it. Being a Barca fan, I have learnt one thing. Pictures will speak for themselves and we will show what we are on the pitch, not off it.
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| Photo via Sport.es |
#InPepWeTrust..Visca el Barca..
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