Real Madrid and Portugal forward Cristiano Ronaldo’s 73rd minutes goal has enabled Jose Mourinho’s side to open insurmountable seven-point lead at the top of La Liga thus calling off the bluff of reigning champions Barcelona in recent Clasico’s.
Real Madrid’s 2 – 1 victory at the Camp Nou did not only caused Barca’s second defeat in four days but brought Barca’s 11-game winning streak in La Liga to an abrupt halt and effectively clinched the title with four games remaining in the La Liga.
German International Sami Khedira put Madrid ahead after 17 minutes when Pepe’s seemingly hand ball pass from Angel Di Maria’s corner kick into the box fell in front of him to plant the ball home from close range.
Like Mourinho set his team up against the Catalan’s in the Copa del Rey finals which Madrid eventually won, sat back after the goal to frustrate the unrelenting Barcelona attack led by the Argentine footballing ‘god’ Lionel Messi. Pep Guardiola’s side took centre stage after Madrid had taking the lead but Barcelona simply lacked the last touch upfront to cause any havoc to Iker Casilas in post for Real as la Masia graduate Tello proved on numerous occasion not too competent in El Clasico.
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Madrid enjoyed only their second win in 11 games against Barcelona under Mourinho, in the process finally overcoming the inferiority complex that has dogged them in encounters against their fierce rivals and surely ensuring they will end the season by taking the Liga title away from the Catalans.
The home side were totally confused in the middle by almost the same Madrid midfielders who lost to Barcelona by 0 – 5 in November 2010 with Spanish international Xabi Alonso and Sami Khedira forming ‘the Mourinho two-man screen’ to combat Barcelon’s fluid midfield led by Andreas Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez.
However, the Catalan giants aiming to extend their unbeaten run against Madrid to a record eight games could found the net but only in the second half through substitute Alexis Sanchez who scored from a close range to put Barcelona back into the game.
Momentum appeared to be with the reigning champions after the Chilean had brought them back into the game yet Madrid responded within three minutes with the kind of devastating counter-attack that caught the Barca back three (Adriano,Mascherano,Puyol) to a total sleep. The ball was worked to Ozil on the right flank and he played in Ronaldo with a brilliantly-weighted pass that allowed the forward to take a touch and draw Valdes before finishing past the Barca keeper in style.
The goal represented Ronaldo’s 42nd goal of the season, one ahead of Messi and Madrid’s 108th in La Liga this season, breaking the record set by John Toshack’s side in the 1989-90 campaign. Madrid per this win ended Barca’s 54-game unbeaten home record in all competitions and all but ensuring that the title returns to the Capital after three years to quench Mourinho’s first La Liga title since joining Real.
Cristiano Ronaldo who has been criticized in recent times by Real fans for not been a performer in big games ended the game in a grand style to become the captain in the boat that docks this year’s title in the Spanish Capital.
By: El-Amisty Nobo/Freelance Journalist