Madrid celebrating their victory after winning the Clasico (Picture: Getty Images)
Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema got the three points in the bag for 10 men Real Madrid in the Clàsico over the weekend. Gerard Pique, the man who always antagonises Los Blancos looked to have stretched Barcelona's lead at the top to 13 points when he lost Pepe and headed brilliantly past a hapless Keylor Navas. Real Madrid should have won the game 3-1 in truth, after Gareth Bale's well-taken goal had been inexplicably ruled by Clàsico referee debutante, Alèjandro Hernandez. Justice was served you feel as CR7 got his 29th goal in La Liga and his 42nd in all competitions. That is absolutely phenomenal. Only a certain Swede (Zlatan Ibrahimović), has more league goals (30) than the Dark Invader (CR7). For a man who was said to score only against small teams, scoring against Barcelona will keep the critics quiet for a while.
As desired by Madridistas around the world, Zizou got his tactics spot on in his first Clàsico. The last man to do that win his debut Clàsico was German manager Bernd Schuster in 2007. Zizou broke the Clàsico curse alright; Fabio Capello, Juande Ramos, Manuel Pellegrini, Josè Mourinho, and Carlo Ancelotti, weren't able to achieve this feat. Well done Zidane, well done. Last Clàsico, Rafael Benitez choked under pressure, and didn't play his preferred starting 11. The BBC were present, as well as Kroos and Luka Modric, but he went for the 'expensive' option; and played Danilo instead of Carvajal, and Jamès Rodriguez instead of Casemiro. As for the former three Ballon D'Or winner (Zidane), he went with his preferred line-up, and it paid immensely dividends. This victory couldn't have come any better for Real Madrid. Casemiro yesterday, made eight interceptions, the most by any Real Madrid player on the pitch. His three brilliant tackles also won the battle for Los Merengues in the Nou Camp. The Brazilian midfielder also neutralized the effects of Leo Messi in the match. Messi wasn't given the freedom to roam around on the pitch as he usually does. Casemiro also did his supreme best when deputising for captain Sergio Ramos after he received his 30th red card in his career. Sheer stupidity from Ramos the second yellow card. Yesterday and also throughout his managerial stint with Real Madrid, Zidane has tweaked his team to a high-pressing side who hits rapidly on the counter-attack. The first goal was one of note. Real Madrid won the ball in their own half and sped to the Barcelona penalty area in quick fashion. Modric picked up the ball, engineered a quick one-two with Kroos, then to Marcelo who ran almost 30 yards and slid it to Kroos whose deflected cross found Karim Benzema. Karim Benzema didn't disappoint and brilliantly improvised with an unorthodox bicycle-kick past Claudio Bravo who couldn't keep it out. At the Camp Nou last night, we saw Zidane get another really impressive performance from his talisman Cristiano Ronaldo. CR7 chased back and defended yesterday although he was at fault for the Barcelona goal. He wasn't aware of what was around him and allowed the ball fly past him leaving Gerard Pique enough space to head home. Par that error, Ronaldo was instrumental again for his side last night. He and Marcelo were always available anytime Real ventured forward. Bale's inexplicably disallowed headed goal was a testament to that. He and Marcelo progressed quickly on the left wing, and with a peach of a cross; found Gareth Bale who legitimately rose above Jordi Alba who backed into the Welshman and guided the ball past goalie Claudio Bravo.
The Portuguese had the last laugh after finishing off another counter-attack. Carvajal 'freed himself from his defensive shackles', ran a distance, fed it to substitute Jesé Rodriguez who found Gareth Bale on the right flank. Just like Ronaldo earlier, he found his teammate with a brilliant centre on his weaker side, and the man nicknamed 'Penaldo' coolly brought the ball down and hit it just under the onrushing Chilean shot-stopper. We then witnessed the 'Calma Calma' celebration and the 'Siuuuuuuuuu' chants courtesy of CR7. The Camp Nou grinned in disgust as Ronaldo worked the audience once more time. For a man who was left out of the combined Barça-Madrid XI both by Journo readers, that's a statement. A real one in truth. They say he's finished and his powers have waned, but he still keeps silencing them with his staggering stats. That goal made him climb over Raùl (15) in the all-time Clàsico charts with 16 goals. He's behind Leo Messi (18) and the late Alfredo Di Stefano who's on 21. Also, Ronaldo has now either scored (10) or assisted (1) in his last 9 visits to the Camp Nou. Breathtaking ladies and gentlemen, breathtaking that is. Jesè's cameo was impressive as he capitalised on a tired Barcelona backline last 15 minutes. Pepe, Ramos, Carvajal and Marcelo all marshaled the defense well, considering the horror of November. We didn't see much of Luis Suarez and his duo as we have been seeing throughout. Toni Kroos, Luka Modric, and Carlos Casemiro frustrated the attacks of the Blaugrana and initiated counter-attacks as the opportunities presented themselves.
Casemiro challenging Leo Messi in the Clasico (picture: Managingmadrid.com)
Zidane branded this very important win as a turning point in this squeaky-bum season up until his arrival at Real Madrid. With the lead at the top now cut to seven points, maybe we can see the exploits of 2006-2007 when Capello's men snatched the title from Barcelona after being six points behind in fourth place for much of the season. Barcelona could slip-up against Real Sociedad at the Anòeta next week, as they are without Luis Suarez. Atletico Madrid travel to the Cornellà-El Prat next week to face Espanyol. Slip-ups then will definitely favour Real Madrid who face, with all due respect, a 'small team' in Eibar. Real won the reverse fixture 2-0 at the Municipal de Ipurua on their recovery mission after the Clàsico drubbing by Barcelona back in November. Zidane's men travel to the Volkswagen Arena on Wednesday the 6th of April 2016 to face VFL Wolfsburg. We could see Real succeed in their quest for La Undecima, and also win that elusive La Liga title.
By Fowora Ayotomiwa
(@El_Fowora on Twitter).
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