Barcelona 5-0 Real Madrid

Jose Mourinho was humbled last night on his return to the Camp Nou with his Galacticos. Having made the fatal error of setting out to play football against his new arch rivals he could only watched as his team were outplayed and then slumped to violence against the Catalans. Real disgraced themselves when Cristiano Ronaldo shoved Guardiola on the touchline and then again later when Sergio Ramos pushed his Spain team mate in the face and received a red card for his troubles, both incidents striking up mass brawls between the two sides.

Before the report is lost on looking towards the bigger picture we must not forget that the nature of Barcelona's overall play, and especially the first goal, which was nothing short of breathtaking. Xavi and Iniesta teamed up for it, igniting more claims that they deserved to share the Ballon d’Or such is the exceptional standard of their telepathic understanding between one another. Iniesta saw space in the box where Xavi was loitering and played in a sweeping ball, his colleague controlled the ball with his back heel, flicked it over his head and, with the utmost composure, dinked the ball over an onrushing Iker Casillas. It really is worth another watch and you can see it here. Guapa!

Mourinho teams simply do not receive defeats like this and the manager knew he had made a mistake. Many prophesied Lassana Diarra to start and for Real to play much like Inter did against Barcelona in the Champions League; allowing Barça to play football, keep their shape and defend against them until the time comes to pounce. Yet, it was Mesut Özil who started high up the pitch leaving Xabi Alonso and Sami Khedira, great passers although not great tacklers, to be overrun by Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets.

Karim Benzema was largely ineffective and whenever he was given a chance to make good of his start he wasted it. This dressing down saw Real drift back to their worst, similar to the Real we saw at the start of the season. Cristiano Ronaldo resorted to desperately hitting shots from distance which never troubled Valdes and the team on the whole began to kick lumps out of the Barça players. The pressure and embarrassment was leading the team from the capital into self destruction which culminated in a red card for Sergio Ramos.

Pedro Rodriguez has firmly established himself within the Barcelona starting eleven and scored the all important second goal for the home side. His movement along with David Villa was outstanding throughout and the two are seamless in their position switching. Pedro has wholly justified Guardiola's faith in calling him up from the Barcelona B team and the five year deal he signed last year. He also remains the only player to score in six different club competitions in one season; La Liga, Copa Del Rey, Spanish Super Cup, Champions League, Super Cup and the Club World Cup.

It could have been more and although they will not like to face such realities, Real should considering themselves lucky that it was only five. The moral of the story is that a team of home grown players (and David Villa) comprehensively beat a team worth $300m + and Jose Mourinho. Not many teams can claim that scalp and Mourinho has never been beaten 5-0 before and, now widely named the 'Anti-Mourinho', Guardiola done the, frankly, unthinkable.

We must not forget the darker side of the good vs evil story; the violence that Real showed on the pitch mimics the violence shown to them the previous evening when arriving at their hotel. Upon arrival the team were stoned with various objects and forced to duck and dive into the hotel lobbing to avoid the aggression, one of the backroom staff were injured in the incident.

Jose Mourinho has stated that there are still many games to play and that this will not affect the title race in the long run but with his team receiving such brutal mental and physical punishment in Barcelona, how quickly will they recover? There are some very precious egos in the side that may have severe bruising today.

Premier League Talking Points This Week

Manchester City should not have rid themselves of Craig Bellamy

The Manchester derby proved disappointing and delivered very little excitement. City’s resoluteness in defence stood the test of Manchester United and not surprisingly so with three defensive midfielders holding a second defensive line in front of the back four. Only Tevez, Silva and Milner could have provided a bit of magic but rarely did, which is not surprising given that only one of them has played in a Manchester derby before. Manchester City missed Craig Bellamy’s brazen attitude and willingness to run at the defence. Silva and Milner were frequently too slow on the counter attack and there was only so much Tevez can do on his own, too many times he had the ball in a good position and the rest of the team were static.Whilst Manchester City obviously didn't want to lose the game, I don't think they would be too disappointed with a win and without a few potentially special players you wont get that in the big games.

Arsenal have picked up the most points away from home in the Premier League this season (@OptaJoe)

An astonishing achievement for the Gunners’ given their tendency to struggle away from home on a cold, wet, Tuesday evening in the north etc. Coming with this stat is Marouane Chamakh’s first and second goal away from the Emirates stadium which will give the new boy and his team a much needed confidence boost. This fact would be all the more welcomed by Arsenal fans if their home form was a glittering. However, Arsenal have lost at home to two newly promoted sides West Brom and Newcastle respectively. In order to mount a title challenge the Gunners need to be firing at home and on the road.

Joey Barton has not ‘turned his life around’

For someone who I’m told gives talks to children about the importance of changing a bad attitude and trying to be a good role model, punching someone in the chest is not a good move. Doing it in front of thousands of people and millions of tv viewers is even more ill-advised Barton, who has been on the end of a few strong tackles since his return to the premier league with Newcastle, finally gave into his inner demons when he lashed out at Morten Gamst Pedersen last night. There was a slight brush of shoulders which Barton took offence to and the red mist clouded over so obviously that Jamie Redknapp would probably tell you that he could literally see it. Barton proceeded to turn around and full force punch Pedersen in the chest, either that or he tried Pai Mai’s Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique as seen in Kill Bill Vol. 2. This would probably be a bit harsh, though. The referee failed to see the incident and the FA are now investigating, personally, I think he should be banned for at least 5 games.

Should Ian Holloway be punished for his team selection?

The FA have a tough decision to make after Ian Holloway made 10 changes to his team when Blackpool took on Villa last night. You’ll remember that the FA fined Wolves £25,000 when Mick McCarthy made 10 changes in a game against Manchester United last season. However, like Mick’s Wolves side, despite losing, Blackpool put in a very decent performance; the team came back to equalise twice before conceding the heartbreaking final goal late on. So, is it only an offence if teams make changes against the big clubs? I said at the time last season that McCarthy’s decision does not affect the credibility of the league as Arsene Wenger suggested and you can read what I had to say here. 

Van Der Vaart and Bruce Springsteen

    Bruce                                  Rafa            

There's no doubt in my mind that Rafa Van der Vaart has got a touch of the Springsteen about him so everytime he scores we'll be having a little Bruce sing-a-long. This week his goal against Sunderland evoked an uninspired ourburst of  'Born in the USA'. So, we're going for this video, headband and all. Rock 'em, Rafa!!