A weekend with sports adrenaline to the limit, in which I debated between the All-Star Game of Cuban baseball, the Indoor Athletics World Cup in Belgrade and… the Barcelona-Real Madrid Classic in the Spanish Soccer League.
I was surprised by the afternoon zapping on my television and I really sit in front of the computer with multiple joys. Barcelona, after five classics biting the dust against Real Madrid, gave him a dance across the line away from home at the Santiago Bernabéu with a scandalous 4-0 win, which could well have been greater if the merengue goalkeeper Tibault Courtois I would not have intervened on more than one occasion.
Both elevens came to a match that always seems like life or death, with pride and performance to the limit: Madrid after coming back from French PSG in the round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League and with a streak of five consecutive victories in a row.
Barca, without knowing defeat in their last 11 games, in addition to endorsing four goals against Atlético de Madrid, Valencia, Athletic Bilbao and Osasuna between February and March, before endorsing four this Sunday of grace to the leaders of the League.
A Barca that from the first bars was tighter and superior to the bottom line of three proposed by Ancelotti, which did not bring positive dividends. Neither did the changes proposed for the complement, when Barca had already seriously wounded them on the field and their pride.
And the trident Dembelé, Aubameyang and Ferrán Torres terrified again, since three of the four perforations and the four assists on target were shared between them. Ferrán seemed like an ordeal for Carvajual, and Dembelé once again demonstrated his football class over Nacho.
They were joined by Aubameyang who in seven games has scored the same number of goals, in addition to debuting in classics with a brace and assist, something that, according to the statistics of the great Mr. Chip, had not happened in classics played at the Santiago Bernabéu since 14 September 1969, when Bustillo materialized it. What signings of these two strikers!
By the way, Aubameyang’s start at the Blaugrana club reminds us of his moments of greatest splendor at Borussia Dortmund and Arsenal. Nice resurrection.
Of the game, in addition to the verdict with a Xavi Hernández from the bench who tries to rescue the touch philosophy of who was his coach Pep Guardiola, saying that Barca, in addition to winning the battle in the middle sector, stripped Madrid’s defense to pleasure , who was again vulnerable when Karim Benzema is not on the court. And I’m not talking exclusively about his firepower, but about the football he generates and the fluidity with which the meringues play if he’s on the pitch.
That one that this Sunday was missing, both in the bet on the counterattacks that bring such good dividends, and in the attempt to press in the middle sector and go out with a controlled ball.
This was victory number 97 for Barcelona, against a hundred for Madrid in classics, to which 53 draws are added, in which from my perspective it is considered the greatest rivalry at club level between teams in the same league competition.
The numbers did not lie either and were a reflection of reality on the pitch. Barca dominated both in possession 60-40% and in shots on goal 10-4; in addition to showing a greater number of passes 695-471, and greater success in the same 89-87%.
Barca dreams, now with 54 points in the table, third position and one game less than Sevilla, which if won, would place it in second place behind a Madrid that although distant (66), we do not know how He will recover from this blow, both in sports and in his soul.
Nothing, that on this occasion, the black suited a Madrid in mourning, and the yellow, in our sports jargon, did not seem like the color of goosebumps for the Catalans. Visca Barca definitely!
