EL CLASICO ROUND ONE!
FINAL SCORE 1-1
The first Clasico of the four scheduled for the next few weeks took place at the Santiago Bernebeu stadium in Madrid, and had an attendance of 80,000. Both Real Madrid and Jose Mourinho had something to prove following their embarrassing 5-0 defeat at the hands of Barcelona earlier this year. Mourinho started the game with an unusual lineup, as expected by many, with German winger Ozil starting on the bench. Pepe, the Portuguese centerback, was started in center midfield, to the surprise of many. Barcelona's lineup was that of a regular game, with captain Puyol making a surprise return from a hamstring injury.
Referee Cesar Muniz Fernandez, who averages giving 6 yellow cards a game and one red card every 3 games, did not take long to dish out his cards. In the 9th minute, Barcelona's Adriano was yellow carded for a foul on Khedira. Pique and Marcelo were also handed yellow cards in the 27th and 31st minutes, respectively. The score at half time was 0-0, although Barcelona had more possession than Real Madrid.
The second half started off with chances for Real Madrid, he closest being a trademark Ronaldo free kick, which beat Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes, but was denied by the post. Shortly after, however, Real Madrid conceded a penalty and was reduced to 10 men after Raul Albiol took down David Villa in the penalty box. Lionel Messi, who was one goal above Ronaldo for the European Golden Shoe trophy (The trophy for Europe's top league scorer), converted the penalty kick to score his 30th goal of the La Liga campaign. 10-man Madrid struggled for much of the remainder of the game, but chances arose from corner kicks and set pieces, the closest of which was a header by Ronaldo that was cleared off the line by Adriano.
In the 82nd minute, Brazilian left back Marcelo was brought down in the penalty box by fellow compatriot Dani Alvez, giving Real the chance to level the scoreline. Cristiano Ronaldo stepped up to take the kick, and sent goalkeeper Victor Valdes the wrong way, leveling the score at 1-1. The rest of the match was slightly Chaotic, but the game ended as a draw.
Both Messi and Ronaldo, who had never scored against Jose Mourinho and Barcelona respectively, broke their records and set the stage for the next 3 matches to come.
THE NEXT CLASICOS
20 APRIL 15:30 EASTERN TIME
27 APRIL 14:45 EASTERN TIME
3 MAY 14:45 EASTERN TIME
No comments:
Post a Comment