2015/2016 Review

The Uefa Champions league final in Milan marked the end of the 2015/2016 European club football season, and what a season it turned out to be, from pulsating title races to dramatic cup finals to nerve-racking relegation battles, the 2015/2016 season provided all we wanted and more. We’ll be looking at some of the elements from the major European leagues that made this season so memorable.

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE

CHAMPIONS – LEICESTER CITY

To say Leicester City’s ascent to the apex of English club football was miraculous is a grave understatement. The Foxes, who only managed to avoid the drop and finish 14^th on the table in the 2014/2015 season, shocked the football world with their unexpected triumph under the guidance of Italian manager Claudio Ranieri. It would be wrong to attribute the Foxes success to just one player, as the whole team performed very well as a unit, but the performances of Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez stood out from the rest. Vardy scored 24 goals and made 6 assists while Mahrez scored 17 goals and assisted 11.

FLOP OF THE SEASON – CHELSEA

This season will definitely be one to forget for the Chelsea faithful, as they gave the worst title defense in modern day premier league history. Chelsea only managed to win three of their first 12 premier league fixtures, adding salt to their wound was the infamous Jose Mourinho bust-up with team doctor Eva Carneiro. People would argue that things improved under Dutch manager Guus Hiddink, but it was still a disastrous season for Chelsea as they finished 9^th on the table.

2016/2017?

With the revelation of at least four highly reputable managers taking charge of teams in the premier league (Pep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho, Antonio Conte and Walter Mazzarri) and the prospect of the existing ones (Jurgen Klopp, Mauricio Pochettino, Arsene Wenger, Claudio Ranieri, Slaven Bilic and Ronald Koeman) strengthening their squads for a reasonable title challenge, it is safe to say that we are in for a “LIT” 2016/2017 season.

SPANISH LA LIGA

CHAMPIONS – BARCELONA

Barcelona added another La liga title to increase their recent trophy haul under manager Luis Enrique to 7. Barcelona started their title defense in convincing fashion and at some point in the title race they had a ten point lead and were sure of retaining their title, until a disastrous patch of form in April saw them lose the ten point lead and blow the title race wide open, allowing bitter rivals Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid a chance to steal their crown, but it wasn’t to be, as Barcelona held their nerve and won their remaining matches to clinch their 24^th La liga title. Lionel Messi played a pivotal role as usual but it was Uruguayan Luis Suarez who was their main talisman, he scored 40 goals in the league campaign to take home the pichichi.

2016/2017?

Next season looks like another three horse race between the usual suspects will be inevitable, it will be interesting to see how Zidane will fare in his first full season in charge of Real Madrid. There are also doubts concerning Diego Simeone’s future at Atletico Madrid following his Champions league final post-match comments.         

ITALIAN SERIE A

CHAMPIONS – JUVENTUS

Juventus were runaway winners once again, as Massimiliano Allegri’s men were head and shoulders above their main title rivals Napoli. Napoli led at the beginning of the season with a very bright start to their season while Juventus had one of their worst starts to a Serie A campaign in their illustrious history, the decisive moment came when Juve defeated Napoli 1-0 thanks to a Simone Zaza goal, since then Juventus did not turn back and they kept their excellent form to seal their 5^th consecutive scudetto.

2016/2017?

I can’t look past Juventus for the Scudetto next season, their squad is on another level compared to their rivals, and with the news that Dani Alves and Miralem Pjanic are joining their ranks during the transfer window; it’s safe to say that I’m not making a wrong prediction. Although a 6^th consecutive Scudetto won’t be an easy task, Allegri has more than enough talent at their disposal to achieve it.

GERMAN BUNDESLIGA

CHAMPIONS - BAYERN MUNICH

Bayern Munich said goodbye to Pep Guardiola German style as the Spanish manager was bathed in beer to celebrate his 3^rd and Bayern’s 4^th consecutive Bundesliga title. Bayern faced little to no resistance from their competitors as only rivals Borussia Dortmund came close to challenging them for the title, although Dortmund had an impressive season they ultimately fell short to Bayern Munich in the League and domestic cup (DFB-Pokal). Bayern were buoyed by their talisman and Bundesliga top scorer Polish striker Robert Lewandowski, who netted 30 goals.       

2016/2017?

Bayern Munich seem to have a monopoly going on in the Bundesliga and I can’t see Borussia Dortmund usurping Die Bayern from the throne of German football, especially since they sold Mats Hummels to their rivals; if that doesn’t show you the level of monopoly and influence that Bayern have over the Bundesliga, I don’t know what will. First it was Gotze and then Lewandowski and now its Hummels, how can Dortmund compete with a Bayern Munich that can buy their local rivals most influential players at will? And with Carlo Ancelotti coming in we can expect more success for the Bavarian outfit. Bayern will most likely make it 5 Bundesliga wins in a row.      

FRENCH LIGUE 1

CHAMPIONS – PSG

Saying PSG were runaway winners is a bit of an understatement seeing as they had clinched the league title with EIGHT GAMES to spare, unbelievable. They had a stunning 31 point gap lead over 2^nd position Lyon, scored 102 goals and conceded only 19, it truly was a memorable season for PSG, however, they will undoubtedly feel incomplete after failing to accomplish their true goal of winning the Uefa Champions League. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who is PSG’s all time leading scorer has said farewell to the club leaving big shoes to fill at Parc des Prince, the Swedish striker scored 38 goals this campaign making him the top goal scorer in Ligue 1.

2016/2017?

PSG’s story can be likened to that of a big fish swimming in a little pond, the quality and array of talent as well as transfer funds available to PSG cannot be matched by any other team in France, period, thus making Ligue 1 somewhat redundant as we already know PSG will most likely win. Pundits and analysts alike have attributed PSG’s underachievement in the Champions League to the difference in the quality of opponents they face in Ligue 1 in relation to those they face in the Champions League, maybe they are right.

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LA UNDECIMA

                                                             
                                             

                                                                                      
          Could Real Madrid get their hands on an eleventh CL title? (Pic: Pinterest.com)

    

   

Real Madrid welcome former manager Josè Manuel Pellegrini and Manchester City to the Estadio Santiago Bernabèu for the second leg of this year's UEFA Champions League semifinal. Both sides played out a stalemate at the Etihad stadium as marksman Cristiano Ronaldo sat out the tie nursing a thigh strain. Karim Benzema only lasted the first half as he too had a muscle strain. Zidane will be hoping both of his stars are fit come Wednesday the 4th of May.

       Los Blancos had chances in the second half to grab an away goal in that game, but were foiled by the virtually unbeatable Joe Hart. The English shot stopper made two really outstanding saves; one to deny Casemiro with a trailing left foot and the other in an unorthodox fashion to keep out Pepe from barely five yards out. Substitute Jesè Rodriguez hit the top of the bar with a looping header. Hosts Manchester City only pulled out one notable save out of Keylor Navas in the dying embers of the game as Zidane's side did all they could to prevent losing in the first leg.

                                                                                              (Video: YouTube)

      Real will have much encouragement to go all the way into the final as they boast a very impressive winning streak at the Bernabèu in this season's edition (5 wins out of 5). They also come into this encounter on the back of five straight clean sheets on home soil. This really impressive record also comes with a daunting tally of 18 goals scored in those five games. Talk about attacking prowess. Most notably in this tie is the massive support the Madridistas show for their side as we saw against German minnows VFL Wolfsburg. Los Merengues will be immensely boosted by the returns of CR7 and Karim Benzema and also having a fully fit squad who literally give their all each time being called upon.

      Every winning side has to have a certain style that gives them results and this particular crop of players have one. It is one hinged on high energy levels evident in chasing back to retrieve possession and a lethal counter attack when on the break.

 
                                        Can these two help fire Real Madrid to the title? (Pic: FourFourtwo)


This pattern of play is brought about by the technical prowess of World Cup winner Zinedine Zidane who has tweaked nearly to perfection the mechanics of this well-oiled machine known as Real Madrid. Will they be able to go all the way? We'll just have to wait and see. The objective for President Florentino Perez is to see his side win the game on the night. Even at the Bernabèu, this is no easy task.
   

 Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo described the game against Wolfsburg as the 'perfect night'.If Cristiano is fit to play on Wednesday, we might just see another Portuguese holocaust rain terror. Madrid that night were at times in truth, unplayable. If we see anything or even more of what we saw at the Bernabèu last time out, we could see them take that one step closer when they are one game away from clinching La Undecima.

PLAYS OF THE WEEK ( April 26th to May 2).

First we'll like to apologize, PLAYS OF THE WEEK has not been posted for a while now and that was due to some changes going on with our site in other to make things easy and smooth for you the fans. Secondly what a week to come back, fairytales do happen, Leicester City with the odds of 5000/1 have won the Barclays Premier League, who would have taught, anyway let's get to business.

FLOP OF THE WEEK: Bayern Munich (Bundesliga and Champions League).

The Germans would have had a torrid week as they lost their first leg away Champions League tie to Atletico 1-0, and over the weekend, they had the chance to wrap up the the Bundesliga but this was halted as Moenchengladbach held the Bavarians to a draw at the Allianz Arena. Guardiola and his boys did not have any answer to these setbacks but everything could turn around by the time we're posting the next Plays OF The Week.

GOAL OF THE WEEK: Saul Niguez (Atletico).

More misery for the Bavarians on POTW, but props has to be given to the lad for his bravery and craft. Saul picked up the ball from the midfield area ran through on goal beating three Bayern players in the process. then picked his corner perfectly placing a shot that Manuel Neuer could not reach. Good goal by the 21 year old spaniard, he's one to watch.

SAVE OF THE WEEK: Karl Darlow (Newcastle).

It's times like these we really cherish this sport we love so much, as the drama of a last ditch tackle or something important could get you to a step of you achieving your goal and ambition. Newcastle conceded a penalty after going 1-0 up with few minutes left in the game. Former Geordie Yohan Cabaye stepped up to take the penalty and the frenchman hit the ball low and hard but the young goalie was able to read the situation and save the penalty. That save from Karl Darlow might just help Newcastle beat the drop as they look to continue to be a Premier League team.

MATCH OF THE WEEK: Watford V Aston-Villa (Barclays Premier League).

This was going to be a match for pride as both teams know their faiths already. Aston-Villa are getting ready for life in the Championship while Watford have ascertained their desire of remaining a Premier League club.

In the first-half, Watford were in control at the early stages but it was Villa that took a shock lead as Clarian Clark scored from an assist by Ashley Westwood, 1-0 to Villa. The West-Midlands club held their own and were showing some spirit but all fell downcast as Swiss International Almen Abdi scored the equaliser to make it 1-1 from a well placed free-kick. (Fun Fact: That is the first free-kick scored by a Watford player in the Premier League). 1-1 at the break.

Second-Half started with Villa on the up and they were rewarded for it as a quick 1-2 passing move between Rudy Gestede and Jordan Ayew resulted to the latter getting the second goal for Aston Villa. It looked like Villa were finally going to get a victory but drama took place in the 73rd minute were Aly Cissokho was sent-off for a last man challenge on Ikechi Anya, Villa down to ten men. Minutes after Watford capitalised on their man advantage as captain and lifelong Birmingham fan Troy Deeney scored the equaliser. 2-2 with just stoppage time to go but Villa as they've been all season could not hold on as Troy Deeney scored again to win it for Watford 3-2. Aston Villa have now gone 11 games without a victory #OHBOY.

MANAGER OF THE WEEK: Rafa Benitez (Newcastle).

Could possibly be his toughest job in his merry go-round career, and Newcastle faithfuls are loving the man already. With 8 points from a possible 12 in Newcastle's last four games, Rafa has been able to rally his troops as they look to beat the drop and continue being a Premier League club next season, Newcastle's latest 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace got them out of the drop zone and they're odds on favorites to remain in the league versus their rivals. If he manages to keep them (Newcastle) up, we're sure Chelsea fans will not be happy.

TEAM OF THE WEEK: Leicester City (Barclays Premier League).

5000/1, these were the digits ignored by punters all over the world and now it has come to pass. If you got on it then kudos and if not you can try Burnley next season because that is the same number given by the bookies. Extraordinary achievement from this crop of players, they were determined, desired and ready to fight for themselves as they charged towards the title. Every obstacle they dealt with the situation and also they were able to contain the pressure that was put towards them. We could write a whole column on Leicester but that's for another day let's just congratulate the English Champions Leicester City by poking ourselves and know the feeling is true. 

COMBINED TEAM OF THE WEEK: 

GK: Karl Darlow (Newcastle United).

After first Tim Krul and Rob Elliot were sidelined with long-term injuries, the young English lad Karl Darlow was thrown into the mix of battle and so far the goalie has been paving his way. His key moment was the penalty save in his team's 1-0 win over Crystal Palace which got the Magpies out of the drop zone.

RB: Vurnon Anita (Newcastle United).

Another player who has stepped up his game since Rafa Benitez came in, the dutch man has been used at full-back positions where he has flourished racking up goals and assists recently. He had a solid game against Crystal Palace as he helped his team obtain all three points in their Barclays Premier League fixture.

CB: Stefan Savic (Atletico).

The center-back has been part of the pack that has kept 5 clean sheets in their last five games and Barcelona and Bayern Munich are part of the opponents they've faced. Savic was very solid against Bayern, he was always on the tail of Lewandowski giving the polish striker no breathing space. Atletico's defence can have a shout of being one of the best out there today and Savic is an important part of it.

CB: Wes Morgan (Leicester City).

We've really not rated him in the TSM camp, but he has been able to show character and lead his pack to the summit of greatness. Morgan was great in Leicester City's 1-1 draw against Manchester United at Old Trafford over the weekend. He scored the equaliser that got his team a point and that point also confirmed them as Champions of  England. Wonder if one of the big teams will cash in on him?

LB: Filipe Luis (Atletico).

The full-back has always been top notch for his club. The thing about it is that he can mix it up, when he has to silky he will give you that and when he has to be rugged  and fight, he also has that in his locker. Great performance from the full-back in the past week as he helped Atletico beat Bayern and Rayo Vallecano respectively.

CM: Mark Noble (West-Ham).

 A hammer till he dies, the West-Ham captain scored a brace as he helped West-Ham gain all 3 points in their 3-0 away win at West-Brom. West-Ham are still in touching distance to play Champions League football net season and that'll be a new way to launch a Stadium.

CM: Saul Niguez (Atletico).

The man on everyone's lips at the red side of Madrid. The young man's solo goal was enough to get a first leg victory for his team over Bayern. Hope his form can continue and propel his team to greatness this season.

RW: Gareth Bale (Real Madrid).

No Ronaldo, no worries we've got Gareth Bale. He has carried the mantle since Ronaldo hit the sidelines by getting vital goals for his team. For the second week running Bale has scored the winning goal for Real Madrid which keeps them in touch in the battle to win the league title

Bale is a player Real can look forward to in years to come.

LW: Eden Hazard (Chelsea).

People ask where he has been all season well he answered with a 45 minutes cameo as he helped Chelsea salvage a draw after they were 2-0 down at half-time against Tottenham. His magic of last season burst on the Stamford Bridge pitch and his performance on the night waved the crowd. He capped of his performance with a great goal which also dented Tottenham's title hopes. 

AM: Sadio Mane (Southampton).

Not many can boast of two Premier League hat-tricks but this Senegalese can. He was involved in all 4 goals scored by Southampton as they thrashed Manchester City 4-2 at the St Mary's over the weekend. Mane scored a hat-trick and assisted another to help boost Southampton's chances of qualification for Europe.

ST: Zlatan Ibrahimovic (PSG).

Routine win for PSG as they beat Rennes 4-0 in their Ligue 1 fixture. Ibrahimovic scored a brace on the night which takes his tally to 44 goals in 47 appearances this season. Fine wine never gets old.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Wes Morgan (Leicester City).

The Jamaican International has been top notch all season, his leadership qualities have come into play as Leicester celebrate what is a fairytale in Sports today. He scored the goal that won them the title at Old Trafford and his never say die attitude has propelled him and his teammates to the greatest achievement they could ever ascertain. They're all legends and Wes Morgan leads the pack.

HALF A QUARTER FINAL IS CALLED WHAT EXACTLY?

Yesterday's games wraps up the 1st stage of 2015/2016 UEFA Champions League Quarter Final games and the results are as follows: 

Barcelona 2-1 Atletico Madrid. 

(Suarez 63, 74  Torres 25) 

Luis Suarez's brace gives Barcelona edge (Pic: DailyMail)

This game was undoubtedly one of the most difficult fixture compared to the others, and it was an entertaining fixture. The two Spanish giants started the game with panache and aplomb, MSN individually missing chances before Griezmann himself coming close. The first goal of the game came from their lowkey Nemesis, Fineboy el nino Torres, former liverpool striker scores with a finish in between Ter Stegen's legs in the 25 minute. He later goes on to pick a yellow in the 29th minute and another yellow in the 35th minute which unsurprisingly earns him an early shower. 

Poetic init?

The first half ends with ten man Atletico holding on to a 1 goal lead. Luis Suarez, another former liverpool striker equalizes for the Champions League defending Champions on the 63rd minute and then scores again on the 74th minute. This is the 2nd game in a row when Atletico scores first and still goes ahead to bottle it to Barcelona. Just so you know fouls stats are 19-16, to be honest i expected way more. 

It was a good game to watch, Atletico would be excited with their away goal but will not be happy with lack of their striker Fernando Torres.

Prediction: Barcelona to qualify

Bayern Munchen 1-0 Benfica.

(Arturo Vidal 2)

Arturo Vidal celebrates his early goal (Pic: Goal.com)

I have to come clean with you and tell you this was a boring game to watch, apart from the Vidal 2nd minute header coming from when future legend Juan Bernat picked him out. Vidal still went ahead to have the most chances of the games with Benfica's defenders choking out the Polish great Lewandowski and Versatile Thomas Muller. Pre match conference before this game Bayern's boss mentioned that Benfica had the best defense in the competition and it would be difficult to score them, well he did not lie. The best chance of the game did come from the Polish great though, missing an open goal in the 89th minute to seal off the game.

The Bavarians would be disappointed to come out of this home tie with just a goal, and the Portuguese leaders would know they have a great chance of qualifying to the semi finals if they have a good result at Lisbon. Bayern had 8 shots and 6 on target and Benfica had half of these respectively. What are the chances?

Prediction: Bayern Munchen to qualify.

Wolfsburg 2-0 Real Madrid

(Ricardo Rodriguez pen 18, Maximilian Arnold 25)

Wolfsburg Celebrate their 2-0 win over Real Madrid (Pic: The Guardian)

To say anyone could have predicted this result turning out this way, you need to get at me so you can predict my future for me. Wolfsburg have just 3 wins in 15 games, 1,2,3 in 15 games that means 1 win every 5 games and 10 times Champions league winner were fresh from defeating fierce rivals Barcelona with 10 men at Camp Nou. Lets repeat that again Wolfsburg with a form of 1 win in every 5 games defeated Real Madrid who are fresh from coming behind to beat Barcelona at Camp Nou with ten men, 2 unreplied goals. The beauty of football.

An 18th minute penalty from Ricardo Rodriguez as it appeared that Casemiro fouled Andre Schurrle in the box and the Swiss made no mistake from the spot to give the German 8th position team a 1 goal lead at the Volkswagen arena. Seven minutes later Arnold tapped in Wolfsburg's 2nd after a cross from Henrique to send the home fans to Euphoria. Madrid had chances to score, but did not take them and from a team planning on riding on their El classico's victory to win their 11th European trophy this was a very disappointing result.

Wolfsburg would be happy with this result,and would go to the Santiago Bernabeu knowing that if they are organised and play a very defensive game they will go through to the semifinals. Real Madrid on the other hand would need 3 goals to qualify if they are to avoid penalty shootouts and they know an away goal conceded would make things very difficult for them to qualify.

Prediction: Wolfsburg to qualify (What can I say, I'm a fan of fairytales)

Paris St Germain 2-2 Manchester City

(Ibrahimovic 41, Rabiot 60 - De Bruyne 38, Fernandinho 73)

Kevin De Bruyne celebrates his goal against PSG. (Pic: Citizen.co.za)

The best game of the quarter finals so far, it contained everything a football soap opera required except a red card. 4 goals, yellow cards, yellow cards which seemed like red because of the missing next game implication, several penalty shouts, a penalty save, a howler, etc. Just imagine everything you think deserved to be in a telenovela of football and you will have it in this game. A penalty miss by Ibrahimovic as returnee from injury Joe Hart, guessed the right way and saved the penalty. The french 2015/16 league winners went behind after a first-rate finish from De bruyne which left Trapp with no chance, after he was put through by Fernandinho and some comical defending from David Luiz. A howler from Fernando allowed Zlatan Ibrahimovic grab an equalizer 3 minutes after, when he could not take the ball out of his danger area and was put under pressure by the big Swede. Second half begun and the french Champions took the lead from a former City academy player, Rabiot finish after some abysmal defending from Man city in the 60th minute. 13 minutes later the Citizens equalize from Fernandinho after another set of poor defending from prodigal boy Aurier.

Matuidi and David Luiz wont feature in the 2nd leg at Man City's home due to yellow cards picked up today and with Verratti already injured and City possessing away goal advantage. Blanc would need his players to dig deep to salvage qualification against City and if Man City can get their defense in shape, they would need to just play their game at home to get qualification.

Prediction: Manchester City to qualify.

Royal Charge: LA LIGA TITLE RACE OPEN AGAIN AS ZIZOU PASSES HIS FIRST CLASICO TEST

                                 

                               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).