The glorious era of Zidane in the history of El Clasico began this Saturday night. the pure storyline of the world’s most prestigious football rivalry has defined a significant transition of this symbolic duel as it sensationally belongs to Real Madrid and their French coach after this Saturday wonderful win at Camp Nou stadium. Real came from 1-0 down to grasp an incredible 2-1 win against Barcelona on the Saturday night that marked Ronaldo as the true winner along with Sergio Ramos being sent off for the red card as they celebrated their victory with 10 men at the end. Zinedine Zidane rejuvenated the most vital factors of team spirit and winning philosophy, while brilliantly inspiring the cutting edge quality demanded for Real to regain their success against their rival. Luis Enrique on the other side started the night with his extraordinary attacking set up, which famously had emphasized on the epicenter of Barcelona’s structural identity and their unique DNA blue print brand of football, leading by three magicians in MSN and their masterful midfield catalyst whom contributed hugely to Catalon’s recent glory laden seasons. their attempt to control the possession with authority from defense to attack mainly was how everyone expected to see in the early spell, however; Real eventually embraced to mastermind the triggers to crack their host with purpose and eagerness. the deployment of three midfield diamond of Ivan Rakitic, Sergio Busquets and Andres Iniesta with ability to read and win spaces in transition and coordinating the build-up with aim of allowing their three front attackers to spark their usual magic, they briefly pushed Real deep in their own half, indeed Real imposed a compact and intelligent energetic pressing off the ball and igniting a quick but precise break away when going forward in pursuit of igniting a pace for their wingers to fly high up the pitch with timely change of tempo out of wide to link with Ronaldo, a tactic seemed best to integrate Madrid attacking players according to their tendency to capitalizing on the little spaces on the flanks and accelerating with speed and crafty combination in dynamic transition to avoid Barca re-pressing after causing them losing in the midfield, allowing Modric to join them from deep to orchestrate effective break-through passing against traditionally Barca’s slow backline.
Madrid effort to sustain this idea with reliability of their wide men to track between the line was the key for their success eventually and visualized its productivity as the game went on. the host settled quickly into the game with their inch short range of passing and neat touches over the midfield to create good chances. inside the 10 minutes Suarez cleverly managed to turn down a long ball when waving off Pepe’s pressure for Neymar to pick up it as the Uruguyan running into open space himself but failed to beat Keylor Navas when being set up easily by Brazilan return pass in disbelief of Barca’s bench. eight minutes later Messi free kick effort from outside of the box went high as their eager attempt to limit Real from opening up spaces nearly brought in a great chance for the host to score as Ivan Rakitic intercepted Pepe’s play deep in Real’s defense and switching to Suarez open run on the right before his short cut back deflected off the Pepe again and Rakitic effort on the rebound brilliantly saved by Navas at the near post. Barcelona’s intensified sharp passing movements suggested the repeat of another delightful night against their rival as they have shown before. the visitors soon provided a fierce reaction to Barca’s pressure when Ronaldo bursting forward on the right before sharply breaking inside of both Mascherano and Jordi Alba to smash his left footed shot that forced Bravo to punch at his far post as Real Madrid started to switch the top gear with more ambition. in the 41th minutes Iniesta dazzling run from midfield combined with Neymar play on the left flank as his wide cross over the box led Dani Alvez with a long range shot that went narrowly over the bar. the involvement of Karim Benzema and Bale sparked a fine change of tempo within a minute and the French man simply was offered the best chance of visitors in the first half. his effective turn of play and link up with Bale allowed Carvajal to push high on the right and sending a short cross with Pique’s half clearance, but the full back timely play on the rebound redirected the ball in the center of the box for Benzema, but his attempted volley lacked accuracy and wasted. the growing patterns of highly intense tactical challenge seemed to be the exciting story of the second half. with more composure to press in the midfield to win open run, Madrid became more comfortable to exchanging passes in reliance of Benzema delightful movements and touch to go forward in the early spell of the second half, however; Luis Enrique’s side regained their control and scored in the 55 minutes.
Gerard Pique tracked a fine run to escape Pepe’s challenge and flicking a perfect header form Rakitic corner into bottom near post and sparked a wild celebration across the stadium. using set piece effectively and willingly is becoming more positive element for Barcelona in the last two seasons perhaps as part of Luis Enrique Martinez new impact. against the expectations it was Real Madrid whom applied a truly sufficient attacking strategy to change the momentum in the midfield in reliability of their enthusiastic transition approach in the midfield, their resiliency in persistent defensive pressing off the ball and sharp counter opening play with purpose of the isolating Barcelona central forces like Rakitic and Busquets from tracking open spaces when initiating build-up from deep to dictate the time and pace of their attackers, the pivotal factor of Barca’s masterful passing structure which became entirely deficient as Iniesta barely contributed to orchestrate incisive movement in the last 25 minutes of the match and resulted in Catalon’s being exposed to Real’s energetic and organize midfielders. by limiting MSN to generate spontaneous change of run across the line to interchange and dribbling their markers, Barcelona apparently was restricted to maintain their desirable possession and struggling to create fluid movements against sharp and experienced Real defensive line that being marshaled ambitiously and intensely by Pepe and Sergio Ramos with effective anticipation of Casemiro and Kross as the central holding partnership in drifting centrally for interception and breakaway play and shifting wide across the line to win spaces off the ball to offer Bale and Benzema igniting pace high on the flanks as wide strikers constantly. three holding central forces engineered the mechanism of challenging but cohesive tactical dualism strategy with pressing resiliency to defend on their own half at the back of five static defenders and applying an energetic change of pace to dictate the attacking transition more flexibly. on the attack they timely would switching to deep passers with quick opening up precisely at wide to provide essential mobility for Modric to combine with Benzema and Bale in relying of sparking crafty movements and balanced transition to punish Barcelona sluggish defense, ultimately leading Real to execute their masterful high tempo and dynamic strategy.
Real equalized for the reward of their play in the hour mark, Iniesta’s desperate play was intercepted by Rafael Varane as he turned it to Modric for a sharp switch of play from pressing to transition, brilliantly; the Croatian exchanged a sequence of neat short passes with Kroos and Benzema, while combining to Marcelo’s direct run in delightful rhythm with plenty of spaces suddenly had offered as Brazilian fiercely bursting forward with pace and precision, breaking inside three defenders centrally and linking with Kroos overlap play before his wide pass deflected off the Alba’s confused turn, escaping over Pique’s head and, while spinning high in the air Benzema executed a brilliant scissor half valley to smash the lower near post and put host fans in briefly fearful condition. his goal left host fans with the sight of fear and shock before vanishing their hope ultimately. the introduction of Jese and Lucas Vasquez added more intensity to Real winning the midfield, in the 67 minutes Carvajal bursting forward on the right to play Bale in open central position and welsman linked up with Benzema before being set up with his return pass and his low range shot saved by Claudio Bravo. the desperate attempt of Luis Enrique’s side to control the flow of this increased open duel reached its fading sights with their last chance to score came 15 minutes from the end. Messi dinked a beautiful deep cross over defense for Suarez and he smashed his fierce right footed shot just wide of the post before the waves of visitor’s attacking enthusiasm combined with little drama and ultimate inspiration. in the 78 minutes, Kroos energetic run in the midfield was exchanged with Jese and Marcel on the left and played to Ronaldo, his cross to the far post allowed Bale to flick a beautiful header while outmuscling Jordi alba, but it was harshly ruled out for a foul in pushing down the defender, sadly interrupted their celebration in such disbelief. the scene intensified Real’s motivation to score the winning goal even further, three minutes later after fine pressing Varan picked up Jese in the midfield and he sprinted forward to play Marcel overlap once again and setting up Ronaldo on the edge of the box, the Portuguese looked up and sent a curling shot which deflected off the outside post and went over, Zidan’s unique and eye-catching reaction when passionately turning around his head on the touchline in response to those missing chances might have seemed little crazy, but it nearly electrified an extra glimpse of sensation to the team to win it indeed. moment later another long ball over exhausted Barcelona’s struggling defense caused Alba to led it slipped past him and Bale was ready behind to brace and finish it, but Bravo challenge blocked his effort from going inside. the boiling point of this endlessly intense scenario traditionally suggests the emergence of often very aggressive and ruthless challenge and red card and famously Sergio Ramos appeared to be the bad guy this time.
Arda Turan anticipation in midfield attempted to pick Luis Suarez but Ramos ruthless tackle splashed the striker into a pain to receive the red card and leaving his team with one less player just eight minutes from the end, but surprisingly it provided Madrid with added fighting spirit and those regretful moments soon replaced with their truly incredible performance and blessing joy to win the contest. the repeatedly sluggish and poor attempt of Barcelona defense to initiate passes out of back finally punish them to the pain of defeat. Jordi Alba short play was intercepted sharply by dedicated and tireless Daniel Carvajal as he broke forward fiercely before Jese taking over and combining with Bale flying overlap run on the right, the Welsman sent an inch-perfect inswing cross with his right foot over the far post for Ronaldo, the Portuguese hooked the ball on his chest delicately and with a sheer composure to beat Alvez challenge and smashing his shot into the net to seal this incredible victory for Real Madrid, it was the brilliant effort to get the revenge of embarrassing first leg 4-0 defeat at home last year and in spectacular perspective, they produced a superb tactical authority and desirable flair to crash their extra ordinary rival at the most heated stage of La Liga title race.
Real Madrid Verdict: since the appointment of Zienedin Zidan as their coach, the steady progress of Real’s tactical structure and their caliber of attacking style had a wonderful accomplishment. the French man provided a sublime indication to rejuvenate the impact of his talented attackers such as Bale and Benzema to change the games with their vision and skills, while offering positive instructions to youngsters like Jese and Lucas Vazquez to involve effectively when coming off the bench. his midfield look far more sharper to press behind their line and coordinate transition of attack with highest extent of passing precision and pace for their dynamic style of football. the resiliency of backline to read the opposition’s movement along with energetic press winning approach to win back spaces and involving their midfield to quick opening in counter definitely play a crucial role to their success. Ramos and Pepe and Marcelo are experienced enough to marshal their backline adapting to touch challenges with consistency and determination as they even are capable to anticipate in drifting wide or occupying deep holding areas across the midfield when having possession to spark more pace with their run, Carvajal was the perfect example on the night, intercepting Barca’s deep pass and raiding on open spaces to offer attackers more time and option up front. the new polished tactical strategy according to balance of coordinating transition movements in the midfield relying on vision and precision attributed wisely with efficacy of wingers to ignite pace and crafty combinations to enjoy penetrating with Ronaldo as their target man. this win crucially boosted them with essential confidence to tighten up the league’s title race towards the end of season with certainly realistic expectation of having slim chance of sealing the trophy, but at least it signaled the return of promising day to Madrid to shape even stronger identity with this talented and now experienced group. Zidan sparked and invented the flame of golden days in terms of style and efficiency with the available sources at his disposal, the same weapons available to Rafa Benitiz last year when he was their coach with nearly same mission to pursue. the main difference between two Zidane and Benitez is that French coach revolutionized the team through his in-depth understanding and sensibility of integrating the DNA of their football to the most adaptive formation of play they willing to perform and to sustain its productivity, the fact is highly inspired from his identity as one of the legends of the club in developing a great communication on and off the pitch. in contrast to Zidan, what Benitez brought in to Madrid despite being known as an eccentric coach for his particular strength and ability to develop organize defensive team with possibility of adjustment and changing the pieces of the puzzle to play different formations, he nonetheless; refused to understand the vital aspects of commanding an ultimately efficient unit with tactical clarity in different circumstances; in the way to elevate the real potential of his talented players while convincing them to comprise their skills for more intense tactical orders, which never proved to be successful at his time with Real. the ability to provide a balance between his defensive strategy and Real incredible attacking elements became an problematic puzzle with no promising solutions in accordance. winning many easy games and losing the big one like embarrassing 4-0 defeat in the first leg and dropping points during crucial title race time, appeared to be the major difference between two coaches and perhaps significant outcomes.
Barcelona Verdict: they started the match in their favorite mold, but eventually struggled to dictate the pace of this intense and entertaining duel, relatively due to Real intelligent and effective game plan, their defensive resiliency and after all for their own defensive lapse and vulnerability to high tempo style of football with technical players who are capable to adapt to change the pace in quickest transition. Jordi Alba, Pique and Alvez have shown the same weaknesses and now their psychological pressure might be the challenging point to their champions league hope and la liga success.
