“It’s been a long time since the Santiago Bernabéu was able to chant ‘olés’ against Barcelona.” In a phrase, the Real Madrid defender Pepe had summed it up. Late in the second half of the 229th clásico, and the first this season, the scoreboards high up at the north and south ends of the stadium showed: “Real Madrid 3 Barcelona 1.” They also showed something else the visitors might not have wanted to see: the time. There was still more of this for them to suffer.
In the end, Real Madrid scored just three but it could have been more. The Barcelona manager, Luis Enrique, admitted: “We didn’t deserve more.” Soon afterwards his Real Madrid counterpart, Carlo Ancelotti, praised his players’ professionalism, describing them as “unique”. Coming from a man who has coached an incredible catalogue of footballers in a managerial career that includes Juventus, Milan, Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain, it is quite a compliment.
As the second half progressed, Madrid moved the ball swiftly round the pitch with their opponents unable to reach it and the “olés” went round the stadium. Their fans were enjoying this. There was no sense that the victory was at risk, only that it might be greater. When Barcelona did timidly advance, looking for a way back into the game, Madrid counter-attacked with a pace and precision that was often astonishing. They did so over and over again.
Madrid had not beaten Barcelona by more than a solitary goal in the league since May 2008, the last clash of the pre-Pep Guardiola era at a time when the Catalans were collapsing. The clásico often leads to sweeping conclusions being made and there is the tendency to see games as defining moments, closing one era and opening the next. That is premature in this case of course and Barcelona remain top of the table. They might have got more here, too: Neymar put them a goal up and then Messi was unable to finish from six yards before Cristiano Ronaldo equalised from the penalty spot. Had Messi scored, it might have been different.
And yet at the other end Karim Benzema had already hit the bar and then skied his close-range follow-up and Madrid were starting to impose themselves. In the second half they did so more clearly. The early-season doubts appear to be behind them, with nine wins and 38 goals in their past nine games, and they now trail Barcelona by a single point. The balance of power felt like it tipped towards the capital here, especially because it was not just the result that stood out; it was the manner of the performance. Afterwards Barcelona’s players admitted that Madrid had been superior.
Madrid did not only take the points from Barcelona; at times, they took the ball from them too. It was tempting to conclude that Madrid had beaten Barcelona at their own game, as well as at Madrid’s game. “It was hard for us to get the control [of the match] in the second half,” the Barcelona goalkeeper Claudio Bravo admitted. “It was important to defeat Barcelona and to do it the way that we did,” Ancelotti said. And Pepe’s defensive partner Sergio Ramos said it was a complete performance.
“The team was incredible today in every aspect and all across the pitch, despite conceding the early goal,” Ramos said. “We dominated the play, we didn’t just play on the counterattack. We invaded their half of the pitch and we had possession of the ball. They’re not used to that and that’s where we did them real damage. We were very clear in our minds about what we wanted to do.”
Madrid’s full-backs agreed. “We’re a team that likes to have the ball but in the end we also felt comfortable on the counterattack. We come out of this game feeling stronger,” said Dani Carvajal.
Marcelo added: “It wasn’t easy. We had to work extremely hard and run a huge amount. The defending starts from the front with Cristiano Ronaldo and Benzema, which makes our work easier: opponents reach our area almost without the strength to attack us. We missed three clear chances but we got all three points, which is the most important thing. We took them on, head to head, with no fear. And we had lots of possession of the ball.”
“I always said that our defensive level wasn’t about quality but about sacrifice, desire to run, to work together and to help out team-mates,” Ancelotti said. “I have a very, very serious team who understand what it means to play for Real Madrid and sacrifice themselves for the team. I’m proud of these players. They have a seriousness and professionalism which is unique in my experience as a coach.”
