Barca blow hole in Real Madrid title hopes
Barcelona blew a gaping hole in Real Madrid's hopes of retaining their Spanish title when they won 2-1, their first victory at the Santiago Bernabeu for seven seasons.
Barcelona blew a gaping hole in Real Madrid's hopes of retaining their Spanish title when they won 2-1, their first victory at the Santiago Bernabeu for seven seasons.
"What you saw was a wonderful game, both teams played to the maximum," commented Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard, and many would agree with him.
Xavi Hernandez got the Barca winner four minutes from time with a glorious volley from the outside of his right foot after Ronaldinho had cleverly chipped forward and caught out a sleeping Real defence.
The key to the game was arguably the sending off of Real Madrid winger Luis Figo, the former Barca player getting his marching orders after 68 minutes.
"Real Madrid had the best of the first half. We suffered," said Rijkaard.
"Either side could have won the game prior to the expulsion of Figo, when the score was 1-1. However Real were not beaten even then and could have got a second goal."
"We survived thanks to some wonderful goalkeeping by Victor Valdes," added Rijkaard.
The result means Real stay in second place on goal difference although league leaders Valencia have a game in hand, and play at Athletic Bilbao later on Sunday.
Barca have now gone 16 games unbeaten and the run has taken them to sniffing distance of the leading pair.
They still lie in third but are now only four points behind Real Madrid.
Real's defeat could also have a profound effect on the future of coach Carlos Queiroz, whose team has in recent weeks lost the Spanish Cup final, gone out of the Champions League and now lost at home to their bitterest rivals.
Queiroz was sportingly smiling at the end of the game when he congratulated his opposite number but he is likely to face a wave of criticism as the post-mortem on this performance is conducted in both the Spanish media and the Real boardroom.
Real had the best first-half opportunities including Raul Gonzalez hitting the post with a header, but it was just an appetiser for a thrilling second half.
Santiago Solari proved his worth as the replacement for the injured Ronaldo when he opened the scoring for Real after 53 minutes.
The Argentine winger found the net with a clinical left foot shot from the edge of the area after Roberto Carlos had laid off a David Beckham corner.
However, Real's advantage only lasted four minutes. Rijkaard sent on Luis Enrique Martinez and Patrick Kluivert to pep up the Barca attack and their tactic had immediate effect.
Giovanni van Brockhorst sent a long pass forward from just inside the Catalan's half and his fellow Dutch international Kluivert caught the Real defence square and scored with his first touches of the game.
The initiative shifted to the visitors when Luis Figo was sent off for his second yellow card, after a two-footed lunge at his former teammate Carles Puyol.
"It just goes to show that not every referee favours us. Sometimes things go our way, sometimes they don't," said Real keeper Iker Casillas, responding to recent comments that the men in black are biased towards Real.
Kluivert missed a golden chance to put Barca ahead 13 minutes from the end when his header, after Ronaldinho had danced his way to the Real line to cross, skimmed over the bar.
However Ronaldinho's exquisite skill ensured that Barca eventually went home with three points when he provided the service for Xavi to find the net.
"It was a little bit strange but things go like that sometimes," added Casillas, speaking for many of the Real players who believed that Xavi was offside.
Figo will miss next week's vital match at fourth-placed Deportivo La Coruna, as will the Real defender-cum-midfielder Ivan Helguera who picked up his 10th yellow card of the season and will serve a one-match ban.