January 25th, 2012
Barcelona (2) v. Real Madrid (2)

Barcelona and Real Madrid clashed in yet another great clasico. This was the 9th clasico in as many months, and in my opinion was the most fantastic!!!

Real Madrid came out with an attacking lineup featuring Ronaldo, Higuain, Kaka, Alonso, and Ozil. It’s been very rare that Jose Mourinho (Real Madrid’s coach) has used this combination of offensive fire power. Real Madrid pressed high up the field and forced Barcelona to play to perfection if they were to win with their possession game. The pressure was relentless and it almost paid dividends when Real Madrid created a flurry of goal scoring opportunities early on.

Watching this game, it’s obvious that Real Madrid is the true contender of a team that can possibly overtake the great Barca machine. Are they ready now? No!!! But if Real continues to play with this positive approach, time will only make them more dangerous.

What I just don’t understand is why Mourinho doesn’t commit 100% to this approach? Why did it take real Madrid being down 2-1 on aggregate and visiting Barcelona for the coach to decide his team can play with such confidence? In the first leg at Madrid, Mourinho fielded a midfield that included a center back and two defensive midfielder. Is it that Mourinho felt he had nothing to lose in the second leg, so he might as well try and attack? The funny thing is when he felt less pressure and decided to unleash his superstar team to attack and press, they finally looked like a team considered to be Barca’s arch-rival.

I hope this serves as a learning experience for Madrid and we begin to see them consistently playing such the protagonists. If so, we might actually see Mourinho get the best of Pep sooner than later.

On a side note, Mesut Ozil is a legend in the making!