Real Madrid 1 x 0 Barcelona: Could this have been Ronaldinho's farwell game?
Sunday, 23 December 07, 09:42 PM
On my pre-game game post I got the line-up for Barcelona without Ronaldinho or Deco in it. That's cause coach Frank Rijkaard kept the mistery until moments before the match today.
I was happy to see that he had chosen to start with the brazilian. I also thought Ronaldinho would do everything possible to win this game and prove how valuable he still is for the team.
Well, that didn't quite happen.
The first half was quite balanced in numbers and also in goal opportunities but since the beginning I could see a more organized Real Madrid. Los Merengues dictated the rythm of the game with a good passing line and a well controled pace.
At the 7th minute Ruud van Nistelrooy could have scored the opening goal with a shot from the rtop right side of the box that went just wide of the goal.
Only after 28 minutes played in the first half was Barcelona able to really balance things up when Ronaldinho decided to wake up. The brazilian was reaponsible for at least 2 brilliant moments in less than 5 minutes. It was good to see his footwork and amazing skills to take on defenders entertain the crowd and get Barça close to the equalizer. No enough though.
It was another brazilian who stole the spotlight on the first half. A great passing play ended up with van Nistelrooy serving Julio Baptista on the left side of the box. On a perfect strike, "The Beast" scored the winning goal at minute 35.
Baptista proved once again that skills alone can only take a team so far. There's gotta be efficiency if a team wants to win titles.
The second half was, what I would call, the reason why this is the greatest sport on earth: NO GOALS but a lot of AMAZING, STUNNING moments. Barecelona kept on searching for the equalizer but Ronaldinho's inspiration was gone. The team bravely - but also too desperately - attacked with shots from outside the box and attempts of through balls, but they almost always hit a wall called Pepe. Real Madrid's defense played extremely well.
Los Merengues on the other hand used the counter attack as their main weapon. Robinho always giving Barça's defense a hard time.
Another great game that made very happy for waking up early this sunday.
And now some questions for you guys:
Should Barcelona keep Ronaldinho?
Is Messi more important for the team?
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I could not agree more about Rijkaards poor decision making, Barca is loaded with talent but when you have developed an inability to manage your talent you need to move on. You can't just rely
on
the
fact that you have talent to win, players get tired and have off days. Not that Rijkaard has done a poor job in the past but his formula has become predictable. And as it pertains to
Valdes...I
can
never seem to feel comfortable with him in the net. You can never seem to feel like he is dominant between the posts. When the pressure is on I always feel the need to look away. I
would really would hate to see Ronnie move on as he has become synonymous with Barca...and I admit I am a bit of a Ronnie fan.
What Barcelona needs is a complete defensive midfielder. What I mean by that, is we need a midfielder that can defend and attack. We have Yaya Toure, but did you see how many times he gave the ball
away? My God, I thought he was playing for Real Madrid out there. I always ask myself, "why the hell did we let Van Bommel go?" In my opinion, Van Bommel is the best defensive midfielder we've in the
past 3 years. Edmilson and Yaya are ok, but nothing like Van Bommel. He was never afraid to give up a foul and when he did, he never argued. When he had posession of the ball, he was always strong
and made the right moves, every single time. Letting go of him was probably the biggest mistake Barca made. Also, we need to get rid of Marquez. He's a decent defender, but he's always to slow to
react to things. And yes.... we need to replace Valdes. He's not a good enough keeper for a team like Barca.
MERRY XMAS TO ALL SIMPLY THE BEST ..RANGERS MEMBERS, I HOPE RONALDINHO STAYS AT BARCA UNTILL THE END OF THE SEASON TO HELP THEM STUFF CELTIC I DO THINK HE WILL JOIN CHELSEA HOWEVER AND I THOUGHT TO
MYSELF WATCHING THE MADRID DERBY IT WAS POSSIBLY HIS LAST ,RONALDINHO IS STILL A CLASS ACT HOWEVER AND WHEREEVER HE PLAYS
Oh come on people, this was more about off season moves than coaching. before we start to throw Rijkaards under the bus we have to take a look at how good Real Madrid really is. Madrid have not won
at Camp Nuo in more than 2 and a half years.......sooner or later they were going to pull off a win there......they are too good a sqad not too. Granted Zambrotta maybe should not start but not to
have Henry in this game is the biggest of mistakes but other than that Barca played a great game but it was just Real Madrid's game and aquisition of Baptista has proven great dividens for them. So
give credit where its due but not to worry Barca fans .....7 point leads disappear really fast in La Liga
Rijkaard made some poor subsititutions. Bojan should have came in earlier. Ronaldhino is not the same player. He is way too slow and lacks fitness. Of course Messi was a big miss. All is not lost. La
Liga is only half way. There is still a chance for Barca to get it together. They need to build confidence and start winning away. Bojan and Gio need more play time. Barca is a team in transition. No
more galacticos.
Madrid bought in Baptista and they are making good use of him as displayed in the game. Sow where was Henry? Why wasn't he used? and Ronaldinho is not out of shape he is still one of the greatest
players in the game but he can't do it all by himself.
10 Comments
I've cried ever since this game ended. Being a Barcelona fan from Barcelona, I expected much more from the team. They played well, but some players were just too sloppy and the long-balls out of the
back made this seem like a stupid Prem game, instead of the biggest game in club futbol, El Clasico. I think Ronaldinho should stay, but Rijkaard has to go. Waiting so long to bring Bojan in, no
Henry, and did Zambrotta even touch the ball?? Horrible decisions. Yes, Messi is more important to the team now than he ever was before. His absence meant that there was no one to set up any chances,
there was no one to control the pace of the game, and there was no one to make those mazy runs, like Leo does. I know I'm probably going to get blasted by those stupid Madridistas, but I don't care.
Ronaldinho will stay, but Rijkaard will be sacked. Bring on Mourinho........
I agree. Rijkaard took entirely too long to make the right subs. Deco shouldn't have started and Iniesta needed to be pulled when it was visible that he was getting tired. Ronaldinho still played
well, but some of his magic is gone too. Zambrotta shouldb'e started, it was stupid to put Puyol on the outside. Milito should've been sat out. Also, even as a Barca fan, I think Casillas is the
better keeper. I have never really liked Valdes, he just isn't that good. Good game, unfortunate loss, but it was a good test for Barca, and i think it showed who needs to be playing where.