Day 29
The Barça team mercilessly thrashed a poor Real Madrid at the Bernabéu and won the definitive accolade for Xavi’s project with their display
Barca is back. It has cost him three quarters of a season and a long road of disappointments, condemned even to wander through the Europa League, far from the great stages of the Champions League more in keeping with his size, but if there was a turning point to determine that Xavi has achieved rearm the azulgrana team to compete again with the best that happened to defeat the eternal rival.
And it is that the azulgranas accumulated five consecutive classics biting the dust, too many stones in the backpack and ghosts that grew and grew. With a stroke of the pen he killed them at the Bernabéu, where he mercilessly thrashed Real Madrid on a night that reminded the times of Guardiola. Perhaps it will be too late to fight for the League title, because despite the bump Ancelotti’s team still has the wing in their hands, but the new era at Can Barça already has a game to remember and the feeling that the long road through the desert may soon come to an end.
That Madrid wore black in a supposed tribute to its 120-year history was a sign. Things of the times, in a time of novel t-shirts that defy tradition at a price of gold. Ancelotti changed his usual 4-3-3 for a 4-4-2 with Valverde reinforcing the spinal cord to put fresh legs and discuss with Xavi what he always wants as a commandment: control of the ball.
0
Real Madrid
Courtois, Carvajal (Mariano, min. 46), Militao, Alaba, Nacho (Lucas Vázquez, min. 63), Valverde, Modric, Casemiro, Kroos (Camavinga, min. 46), Rodrygo (Asensio, min. 63) and Vinicius .
Ter Stegen, Araujo, Piqué, Eric García, Jordi Alba (Dani Alves, min. 86), Frenkie de Jong (Gavi, min. 71), Busquets, Pedri (Nico, min. 86), Dembélé (Adama Traoré, min. 80), Aubameyang (Memphis, min, 71) and Ferran Torres.
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Goals:
0-1: min. 29, Aubameyang. 0-2: min. 38, Araujo. 0-3: min. 47, Ferran Torres. 0-4: min. 51, Aubameyang. -
Referee:
Martínez Munuera (Valencian Committee). He booked Kroos, Modric, Camavinga and Lucas Vázquez for Madrid, and Frenkie de Jong, Busquets, Jordi Alba and Nico for Barça. -
Incidents:
Matchday 29 First Division match played at the Santiago Bernabéu in front of 60,017 spectators.
While the Catalan team sought to take over the game, Madrid bet on vertigo. Through a speed exit, Rodrygo’s shot came to the side of the net, in the first action of some danger of the clash, but above all a shot by Valverde after Vinicius’ run that Ter Stegen disrupted with his stretch. And it is that Madrid started in fifth gear, biting into the pressure, aware of the need to abort the creation of the culé game before reaching the engine room, where Pedri and Frenkie de Jong simmer it from the profiles interiors.
It promised the white start as it passed through the first quarter of an hour but that was the end of the Madrid game and the recital of the men dressed in the ‘senyera’ began. Ferran Torres put it into the heart of the local area from the left and there was Aubameyang, too much alone due to Alaba’s mistake, quick to put together the left-footed shot but stopped by a save from Courtois. Shortly after, Ferran Torres was the author of the shot, which licked the post of the Madrid goal.
Fast-paced classic in the first minutes despite the decaffeinated difference in points between the two giants, with Barça growing with the passing of the minutes through possession. Bad symptom for Madrid the succession of Barça passes, with Pedri distilling his enormous quality. Xavi’s team was comfortable, wearing down their rival in pursuit of the ball, and those feelings were reflected on the scoreboard. Dembélé faced Nacho with his enormous verticality, overflowed and put the precise center so that the toned Aubameyang debuted in a header classic.
The Gabonese has been sweet since his arrival in Barcelona, remembering that exuberant striker from Dortmund and not the one who languished in gray London. He was close to 0-2 but Courtois avoided it with his hand down. It was before Vinicius stood hand in hand against Ter Stegen. The Brazilian was flustered as before, and in the end he ended up on the floor claiming a penalty that there was no hint of. It seemed like a break for a clearly inferior Madrid, but far from equalizing the contest came Barça’s second, in a corner kick after which Araujo became a colossus to overcome the entire defense of Chamartín and silence the Bernabéu, which He promised them happy hosting a duel against the eternal rival more than two years later and attended the culé exhibition stunned.
madridista nightmare
The break not only did not change the trend but also turned the classic into a Real Madrid nightmare. Ferran failed alone against the rival goal seconds after the referee’s whistle but he holed the second. With no time for reaction Aubameyang celebrated for the second time, this time on a delayed basis, as it was the VAR that enabled Ferran Torres’ position, prior to the pass for the African striker, who defined the category, chopping her over Courtois.
The game was over, with Madrid in a state of shock. The punishment could have been even more severe, Ancelotti’s men dedicated themselves trying to make up the result and leaving space for the Catalan offensive trident. Xavi’s Barça brushed the historic hand, which already has the first great night in his era as Barça coach. His team is already where the coach envisioned when he landed at the Camp Nou as an emergency resource.