A dominant Real Madrid & a resilient Barcelona play out a 1-1 draw - Copa del rey

A dominant Real Madrid & a resilient Barcelona play out a 1-1 draw

Copa del rey - Semi finals 1st Leg - El Clasico Analysis - Feb 6, 2019

It was a cohesive and determined effort from Real Madrid who impressed with their solid defending and fantastic counters.

Upcoming star Vinicius was awesome on the left while Marcelo on the effective on the right wing. They deservedly went ahead early thanks to a quick counter by Vinicius and a lovely assist from Benzema who was able to shake off Jordi Alba. Vasquez did fantastically well to score from close quarters.

They attacked with more energy after the goal and could have at least scored two more in the first half. But Vinicius & Benzema messed up in front of the goal, while Kroos failed to connect a lovely cross from Vinicius.

It was not a great game by Barcelona’s standards but that was expected with the changes that were made to the team. Messi and Sergi Roberto started on the bench while Malcom, Semedo and Coutinho were part of the starting line up.

The resilient Malcom was involved in all the attacks that came from the left flank. He missed a great chance to score but he failed to beat Navas and he was also wrongly adjudged as offside. It he had scored, the VAR would have surely judged him as onside.

But Malcom was determined to impress and improved in due course. There were two fantastic set pieces which the Brazilian put perfectly in the box. Pique as usual missed the mark (This is becoming a annoying routine from the big guy) despite getting the better of the Madrid defenders, while Rakitic’s powerful header hit the cross-bar. Malcom also set up Saurez but the Uruguayan’s first touch was not good and his shot was saved by Navas.

At the start, the Barca defense was shambolic. Young Lenglet did much better as the match progressed. Semedo was impressive in defense and linked well with the enthusiastic Malcom. Pique (injured badly in the last game) was the pillar at the back for Barca as Real Madrid continued to threaten.

Rakitic appeared tired (which was not a surprise). Arthur and Busquets kept the midfield going with some good tackles and passes. Coutinho was least impressive and failed to link with the rest of the team. The only meaningful shot he played was a trademark long strike which went over.

Slowly Barcelona got better. While the visitors started the game on the front foot, it was the home team that had the momentum at half time despite being a goal down.

The second half was less hectic and both the teams were content to play the ball around. Barcelona looked more intent on scoring. As a result Suarez got freed up by Alba but he was tackled by the on-rushing Navas. He still managed to get his shot which came off the crossbar. The deflected ball fell nicely to  Malcom who made no mistake in sending the ball in through a tight angle.After some unnecessary confusion created by the referee, the goal was awarded to Barcelona.

Soon Messi and Vidal came in for Coutinho and Rakitic, for Barca, while Bale and Asensio came in for Madrid. Malcom had to subbed off, due to what looked like an ankle injury. Alena came in for him.

Though Messi brought in more energy into his team, his wonderful passes were wasted by Suarez and the inexperienced Alena. He also earned a free kick near the box but only managed to hit the wall of players.

Towards the end, there was one great chance for Madrid to kill the contest as a desperate Ter Stegen was caught out of position. Benzema gave a perfect cross to Bale who had an empty net in front of him. But the Welshman fluffed it badly and the Barca defense managed to clear it. The 1st leg ended in a 1–1 draw.

Regarding the tactics, I was relieved to see that Messi was not part of the starting 11. I appreciate Valverde for deciding not the start with the injured Messi. But when the match was poised at 1–1 there was no big need to bring him in. Yet he was brought in with about 20 minutes to go.

The Madrid players crowded around Messi and tackled him at every opportunity. Every time Messi went down, there was a collective gasp. There was a huge risk of him aggravating his injury. It was an unnecessary & risky substitution.

But the most absurd decision was to leave out Roberto & select the out of form Coutinho for such a crunch game. Roberto should have been the natural choice for Iniesta’s position. He is not a right back. But Barcelona is bent on filling the position with the likes of Dembele and Coutinho. Sergi should be the automatic choice for that position in big matches, especially in the absense of Dembele.

The talented Malcom needs to be given more playing time, at least as a sub. He is promising and has the inner urge to prove himself. The youngster would be a huge asset to Barcelona.

Real Madrid head to the 2nd leg with the away goal advantage. Barcelona face the big task of beating them at the Bernabue but by then some of their injured players - Messi, Dembele, Malcom - should be back to full fitness.

Finally a word about the Referee -

The guy was determined to give every Barcelona player a yellow card at the drop of a hat. But he was very generous when it came to Real Madrid and turned a blind eye to repeated fouls by players like Modric, Vinicius, Casemiro and Ramos (who did get a yellow card). His leniency let to the injury to poor Malcom who was at the receiving end of some rough tackles. He was blatantly biased which left players like Alba, Busquets and Luis Suarez totally frustrated.

For some unknown reason the referee was reluctant to award the legitimate Malcom goal to Barcelona. It was done after a few minutes of confusion which no one understood. Really hope he is not officiating the 2nd leg at the Bernabue.

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