By El Maestro
Almost 11 short months ago, I wrote that we should all get use to failure after the horrendous end to last season, thinking that Madrid would go back to being that club where players ran the show and the coach was a nobody with no personality. Well, today I am happy to say I was wrong (for now) after the Copa victory in Mestalla. My opinion before the game was that this final would make or break Madrid’s season heading into the semifinal match up against Bayern. The win is a huge boost, but we also shouldn’t get too ahead of ourselves because it was the worst final I had every seen in any competition. The game didn’t live up to expectations and neither team played well at all. Excluding the first 10 minutes, Madrid could not get anything going in attack and Barcelona could not break Madrid’s defense. Despite this, Real Madrid was able to strike first at the 11th minute mark after Di Maria took advantage of Barcelona’s poor defense and beat Pinto to open the scoring.
The 2nd half was slightly more interesting and saw more opportunities from both sides. Madrid had chances to put the game away, but the finishing that always seems to allude Madrid during el Clasico appeared once again. Then Barcelona tied the game with less than 25 minutes left when they hadn’t even challenged Casillas in goal. What’s worse, it came from a corner with Bartra beating Pepe.
Pepe: Your playing a team who’s average height is about 5’7 (1.70) and you allow one of their few 6’0+ (1.83+) players to beat you on area plays. And yet people wonder why Varane is doing on the bench.
Either way, this is when the final really began. Barcelona began to awake while Madrid struggled to regain control of the game. Then came Bale’s moment of glory as we witnessed one of the greatest plays in history. With less than 5 minutes left, Bale took the ball from his half of the field, tried to speed past Bartra and was fouled in the process. Regardless, he stayed on his feet to still blow past Bartra and put it through Pinto’s legs to put Madrid back on top.
Barcelona did have one last chance to tie when Neymar found himself alone in front of goal, but his shot somehow hit the post and went straight into Iker’s post. Déjà vu, the same outcome as three years ago with only four differences: different score line, coaches, lineups and both CR7 and Messi were not present on the field.
Lets just hope Ramos doesn’t drop it this time.
Now time to think about Bayern:
As I said earlier, this was a very important win, but we also shouldn’t blow it out of proportion. Even with the lead Madrid was not able to take full advantage, they let Barcelona back in the game and did not have any bright ideas in attack. Lets also not forget that this is the worst Barcelona side in the last decade and that Bayern Munich is the reigning European champions with one of the deepest squads in the world. Along with this, Bayern has a coach on their bench.
Yes, I have ridiculed Pep and he’s still no Mourinho, but the man knows how to coach and get the best out of his ‘top’ players. Of course, he has slowed Bayern down by implementing his possession style, which has drawn criticism from even his own board of directors. Bayern is not the same electric, quick and straightforward team they were last season, but they still have the same core players and Pep does have a better tactical analysis than Ancelotti.
The good news is since they are playing a side that is known as the best team in the world in this moment, Madrid will surely play both matches to their full potential (at least I think so). However, I believe this fixture will not be won on the field, but by the tactical battles on both benches. Ancelotti finally took the monkey off his back after beating Barcelona, but now he has a whole week to prepare for the 1st leg in the Bernabeu. Which ever coach is most prepared will play in the final in Lisbon.
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