The best summary of Madrid’s overwhelming and gloomy dominance in the second half occurred in the 64th minute, when Nacho raised his head and crossed to Carvajal, who was on the other end of the box. Carvajal freaked out when the ball came to him, and centered the bunch in turn: Ter Stegen caught it. It was exactly what we were missing and it was also fair: the most refined possession is the one that ends with the ball from side to side, sweeping the field like a cow’s tail.
This is how Nacho, Carvajal and Ter Stegen were throwing the ball as if they were in a pool in which the objective is not the goal but rather that those in the middle do not catch it. Madrid focused a lot, especially not to have great specialists; above all, the truth, to have Modric trying to finish off with a header. Many of the strong mid-height centers came from Vinicius: they were all grabbed by Ter Stegen. Other times it was Vinicius, accompanied by his stature, the one who waited for the centers inside the area as if they were Spasic. In the midst of all of them, floating, Benzema searched for partners without success, sniffed out the opponent’s failures to exploit them or, desperate, saw the ball flying over his head like an airplane without a pilot. His teammates only needed to stop the ball and say: “Are we bored, French?”, Which is the phrase that immortalized Luis Zahera in In the best way with a darker result, but not much darker either.
There is good news in Madrid, despite everything. He has replaced Leo Messi as Barcelona’s most feared player with Ronald Araujo, which is not little. There is also bad news: the result does not change much. The dictatorship of the Argentine 10 in the entire field is now the dictatorship of the Uruguayan 4 in defense. He’s just King’s Landing. He is a seven-headed monster who walled off, from the right side, the entire Madrid attack, which was very, very constant and very unoriginal; It was a flat offensive and more dependent on the heroic –the epic blow already claimed in the 60th minute–, than on the light and daring above. He also threw Vinicius into the pit, who tried in every way: the Brazilian only needed to try to crawl it.
The game was a success for Barcelona without the ball, for Barcelona that accumulated troops near their area waiting for the counterattack; the style is fine, but there is no style similar to winning. The madridistas ended up hanging from the famous “another lateral center is expected” of Carlos Martínez before the miracle of City. The thing about those things is that, like the Tourmalet, you have to know when to unleash them; It is useless to throw away the entire second half as if it were a huge discount. It was enough that Barcelona did not score the second and liquidated the tie. With the weather that must be in Madrid, freezing cold, and playing on Thursday, a day prohibited by the white religion.


Juanjo Martin (EFE)




Kiko Huesca (EFE)







PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU (AFP)




Real will end with no shot on goal, as the first commandment of the law of possession says: you will not shoot. And he leaves a funeral notice for the following classics. Speed attracts light, and light opens holes, causes unmarking and dismounts opposing teams. Without speed, and with people who are not José Miguel González Martín del Campo centering from the sides, what there is is heroic dependence, an addiction that cannot be abused, much less in winter. It won’t be necessary later.
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