El Clasico Uno: Real Madrid 1-1 Barcelona; Mourinho's tactical changes.

The thing about Jose Mourinho is that he quickly learns his lesson and last night's performance against Barcelona was a good example of his tactical prowess. Beaten 5-0 at the Camp Nou, Mourinho’s biggest defeat ever as a manager must have cut him deep and it won’t be forgotten. However, despite his Catalan rivals being top of La Liga with an impressive eight-point lead the momentum has shifted seemingly at the right time for Madrid.

An impressive come back last night has giving his substantial squad a boost, especially with ten men; his ten-man strategy paid off, it seems. The first of four encounters saw a particularly defensive Madrid side take the field with Pepe playing defensive midfield along with Alonso and Khedira in the middle. This allowed Barcelona little time and space on the ball; something they enjoyed in the reverse fixture. The first half was fast paced yet lacked many real threats and, uncharacteristically, both sides’ passing was not as sharp as usual.

With the second half came both goals, both from the spot. Ronaldo and Messi respectively converted for their teams.  The pivotal point was the dismissal of Raul Albiol for his foul on David Villa in the box. Mourinho was left with a big decision to make and his substitutions rescued a point for Real. Instead of moving Pepe from his midfield position back to the centre of defence he brought on Arbeloa who went to right back, allowing Sergio Ramos to move into the middle keeping Pepe in the space between the defence and midfield. This allowed Ronaldo, Ozil and Adebayor to go forward with Khedira linking everything together.

Despite the fightback from Real, Barcelona still remain top and strong favourites for the championship. Next comes the lesser of all the clashes between the two and Real have the squad to put out a stronger team if Barcelona feel like they need to rest players. The team who lift the trophy on Wednesday will receive a massive boost of confidence for the all-important Champions League ties.

 

Madrid: Casillas, Ramos, Albiol (sent off), Carvalho, Marcelo, Alonso (Ozil), Pepe, Khedira, Di Maria (Arbeloa), Ronaldo, Benzema (Adebayor).

Barca: Valdes, Alves, Pique, Puyol (Keita), Adriano (Maxwell), Busquets, Xavi, Ineista, Pedro (Affelay), Messi, Villa.