PBP: 12/13 Copa del Rey Semifinal: Leg 1 | Real Madrid v FC Barcelona | 30 Jan 2013 [R]

Absolutely world class Classico. Best one I have ever seen..

Are you guys ok with 1-1 away draw?
I think they can win with any combination at camp nou.

 

I thought the ref kind of sucked today too. Not that it was outcome determinative so much, but he let a lot of rough stuff go and made a few bad calls.

Graham Hunter does not agree though.

Very true. Very slimy play by them. It also looked like Ronaldo dove to get Alves booked.

 

I'm a bit mystified at this point as to why Alonso and Arbeloa are permitted unlimited cynical fouls in classicos. Too bad Barca don't have a hard man who can settle the score with them.

 

Okay, I haven't watched the goal again, but did anyone think that Pinto could have done a little better on the goal? I'm not sure his positioning was bad, but his reaction time seemed a tad slow.

Varane did have a very good game. Some excellent tackles and he did a great job with the header so not trying to take anything away from him.

 

I think you're a bit confused about the formation.

 

It's Mou former student who's the best diver on the planet

 

That was a very good Clasico, one of the only times I've ever seen both teams' best area in this fixture being their defending. Essien, Xabi, Ozil, and of course Varane were fantastic for them. Carvalho should have been sent off, I really dislike that player. The amount of stuff he and Arbeloa get away with in these Clasicos is unbelievable. But I won't complain about the referee, it's a difficult job for him in this situation and he needs to try and keep the game as fair and as even as possible. Wouldn't say he was great, but it's not all that big a deal.

Pinto had a very good game, Pique was a monster, and Busquets was immense out there. Alves could have been a bit better in attack because I thought he overthought some things and didn't release the ball fast enough at times while Alba was a bit disappointing. He wasn't able to go forward much because of the risks he'd be taking if he did but he let Ozil get to too many first balls and didn't stop many crosses from coming into the box before Real eventually made one of them count.

Xavi had a strong performance which would have been perfect had he been fortunate enough to score one of those chances in the first half. Cesc was fantastic too. I was disappointed with Pedro, he didn't offer much in attack and he missed a glaring chance to kill off the game shortly before he was substituted. Messi wasn't his usual self but I'd put a lot of that down to Madrid's strong defensive performance, awareness, and high line more than him being bad. Did very well to poke the ball towards Cesc for the goal, Callejon was unlucky to be the antagonist there.

Iniesta is not a left winger and he will not provide width because he is an inverted winger, not a true one. Reason he's played there is to help soak up the pressure and help us dominate the midfield more, Xavi and Cesc deserve to play as much as he does, and our actual style of playing benefits by playing all three, Busquets, and Messi all together. He had a very good game in my opinion, he would have been even better had Alba been given the license to roam forward more often but he couldn't because he would have been taking a huge risk where we might have conceded. The one time he went up, Iniesta delivered him a perfect ball that he just snatched at. Andres isn't very fast either or left footed so expecting him to provide width is expecting too much.

I thought Alexis coming on for Pedro was a good sub. We just needed someone fresh, ready to press and work hard, and just help out with the midfield a little deeper overall. Alexis provides that, Villa would be there just to finish chances off, but we didn't have that much at all in the minutes Alexis was on so it would have been pointless to bring Villa on unless we were behind. Alexis did well, it seems like his confidence is returning to him on the ball in these last two games.

Madrid were weakened but they made up for the absences with hard work, discipline, and organization. This is why I dismiss the talk about Milan being an easy draw for us, they could make up for the lack of quality in key areas with the same components Real used. It's going to be a difficult two legs against them.

The second leg of this semi will be all to play for. Whoever scores more on the night will go through. Both teams are guaranteed at least one goal in these games, so it's about who scores more than the other as to who will go to the Copa final.

Plenty of time before the Milan and Madrid games though, we need to focus on the very difficult trip to Valencia this weekend. Not a very kind fixture for us history will tell us and we could very well lose points if we aren't careful. We need to be fully focused on that right now more than on any other test we have coming up in February.

 

We do. But that would be playing into Madrid's hands. As much as I'd enjoy a solid Masch foul, that's not our game nor is it what our plan B should be.

 

somoene said this in the RM forum and I cant believe i am going to sasy this but I agree

Recently Barca don't scare RM the way we scare any other team barring Chelsea, all I know we cant concide.
If RM can play like that with players missing, what happens at full strength

 

Calm down, calm down. We are 15 points clear of them in the league, we have just got a 1-1 draw with them away from home in the first leg of the semi final of the CDL, things are fine, yes there are certain things we need to improve on, but there is no need to over react. Yes the games between us and LPB are now very close and there are no favourites when we play each other. But having said that they still don't often beat us and if they do it is by the odd goal.

My thing, and sorry to keep hammering on about this, is that we need to play at a much faster tempo when we play them, we seem to be moving in slow motion compared to the pace they counter attack us.

 

For real??? imo i think Ozil was the best midfielder on that pitch yesterday.
And how do you define "incisive passes" though??? Cause the only one i can think of was the one to Alba in the 1st half.

 

This and the fact that we're missing a lot of chances in the Clasicos now which allow Real to get a good chance of getting a result. It used to be them who were the wasteful ones in this fixture, but we're the ones not taking full advantage of our chances now in the past few games against them. We could work on that as well.

 

An away goal is a good result anywhere especially in a clasico at the Bernabeu. Barca has been unbeaten so far in the Camp Nou this season. I have no idea what everyone is bitching about.

 

Just saw the 11 (almost 12) minute extended highlights (they showed fouls, buckets of chances, and didn't dilly dally with 5 minute replays of each goal) and in terms of competitiveness and equal chances, that Clasico was one of the best.

We missed some glorious chances, especially through Xavi, Cesc and Pedro. Messi should have been clean through on goal there in the 2nd half, there was no offside. Pinto looked like he played an excellent match.

They missed some great chances too, Ronaldo and Benzema in particular. As usual it seemed like they were fouling their way through the game, how Carvalho escaped without a 2nd yellow is beyond me.

There were enough chances to have the match end at 3-3, which would have been better for us, because a 1-1 pretty much means nothing, given that we concede every match. Our away goal advantage will probably wiped out. I'm with Usox, we probably have to score 3 to win the return leg (and the tie) outright. Based on the chances we had tonight, that's not out of the question, but it will be tough to do that.

I am curious as to why some people think we'll win by big margins against LPB every time we play them. Those days are gone, though they could still happen, it will be few and far between. This is like a derby and form never really matters (that being said, they did win their last two league matches by I think a combined 9-0). Also I don't think we "lost" because we didn't damage their psyche. Whether we won or lost wouldn't have had much impact on their league or Champions League ambitions. Suppose we beat them 3-1 yesterday, would they somehow be more afraid of Manchester United, or get an inferiority complex despite United being a completely different team to us?

A league is never solely won based on the two Clasicos, it's what happens in the other 36 rounds that matter most. Take for instance this season, suppose they do win next month in the league but we still have a 12 point + lead? This could be a season where we don't beat them in the league and we still have a fantastic chance to finish tops.

I'm wary about Milan. They don't have the biggest names anymore, but if they turn in a great defensive display over two legs, it could be tricky. I don't expect them to replicate what they did last season, and I expect us to have an even greater amount of chances than Milan over two matches, but you never know.

 

A score draw of 1-1 or higher will require extra time (1-1); or we lose (2-2, 3-3). Yes we can still remain unbeaten this season at home, but if we draw 2-2 or higher, we're out. Then we can tout that "we're still unbeaten" but that won't mean much.

 

Mascherano is the only one in our squad who have the balls to do something , many times when the opposition starts hacking away and the ref allows it masch goes after one of them with a strong tackle that forces the ref to start giving cards thus taking the pressure from the rest of our players to keep taking those harsh fouls.

The player before him who used to doing that was deco , he always tackled the crap out of anyone right after they tackled one of our players. that's why i liked him even though it meant getting a yellow card for himself , but it also meant the opposition will be aware not to keep hacking away because they will start getting the cards they deserve.

 

Ok dude I got a £1000 riding on us on the CDR for one bet I got going, I dont really want to say well I never got £1000 but hey we are still unbeaten

Also if we won for example 5-4, because away goals are more important, do they count twice as much a a home one AKA x2?

 

Away goals don't count "twice as much", but if it's a draw in aggregate after two legs, the team with more away goals advances. If away goals are the same, 2 x 15 ET (with away goal rule on), then penalties.

 

I think Villa will probably stat in second leg, who knows... he's currently the tournament top scorer and we probably started with Pedro at Bernebau to have an extra player tracking back for the ball.

In second leg, we need to score first otherwise Real will do it soon or later. We should try preasure them from the start. Not saying the entire team need to focus on attacking but the attacking players need to use their strength to get an early chance or at least winning a foul in dangerous spot.

 

The league, if not won, can only be lost by us. We in the semi final of the CDR, and have got a good result away from home giving us the advantage going into the 2nd leg. I know there are a lot of ifs and buts, but if we get past LPB we have a very good chance of doing the double (although whoever we played in the final, it would be tough), which would be a great achievement. Anything we do in the CL after that would just be a bonus.