Match made in heaven, played in Spain

After the all-star clash between Real Madrid and Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid on Sunday, the Spanish football league for this season could have been sealed for good. Blue and red-striped Barcelona had, throughout this year, beaten most opponents black and blue. Real Madrid too had faced their ire when the two teams last met at Barca’s home ground, the Nou Camp. Riding on virtuoso performances from World Player of the Year, Ronaldinho and Real discard, Samuel Eto’o, the Catalan giants annihilated Madrid’s stars. It looked, at that time, like the balance of power had shifted towards Barcelona. It might still happen given that they are 6 points clear in the leader-board. But the way Madrid’s “Galacticos” bombarded their defence to earn a scintillating 4-2 win, coach Frank Rijkaard knows that the race is still on for the Primera Liga.

“El Classico”

Here were two traditional rivals battling against each other in, perhaps, the most entertaining league in Europe. Both of the teams had most of their stars in fine fitness and in decent form; and weren’t they evenly matched? If Madrid had Zidane, Barca could show Ronaldinho; for every Samuel Eto’o, there was a Ronaldo for Real. Raul, Owen, Beletti, Salgado, Carlos, van Bronkhorst, Giuly, Casillas … the list went on. This was a perfect setting for a potentially-combustive Spanish classic.
After 90 minutes of the “El Classico” in Nou Camp a few months back, Real Madrid had been subjected to a royal hounding, an embarrassing experience of football’s equivalent of Clockwork Orange’s “ultra-violence”. Looking lethargic, and rather old, the mavericks from Madrid were mere shadows of their illustrious selves. It didn’t help one bit that they were left chasing shadows of the quick-footed, industrious, inventive and in-form Barca stars. To give appropriate credit, Real looked poor because Barca were just too good on the day.
But this return match was different. Ronaldinho had just about recovered from an illness and Henrik Larsson has been out for most of the season with a bad injury. The dynamic Portuguese midfielder, Deco, wasn’t available either, though in some ways it was nullified as Luis Figo, his national teammate, was dropped from Madrid’s starting line-up. The 4-2 win for Madrid was not just an exhibition of breath-taking, attacking football (even at the expense of defence), it also threw the season wide open as now Madrid have a ray of hope to win the title. But it is interesting to note why Barcelona, all of a sudden, became more powerful than their arch-rivals given that they had at times occupied the bottom-half of the league table in the last few seasons.

A tale of two signings

Ronaldinho came to Barcelona at a time when the Spanish giants were going through one of their worst ever phases. Without the league title for some years, it was in many ways a last hope for Barca when they signed the brilliant Brazilian. From that point on, the club has grown in leaps and bounds. Ronaldinho has been a typical Brazilian-Barcelona player with his flair and zest. This was precisely what the club and its supporters wanted as he inspired the team to great victories and such has been his consistency that in this season, they have lost very few matches in the league. But for a controversial John Terry-goal for Chelsea, Barcelona might have stayed in the Champions League now.
Real Madrid, on the other hand, after winning the La Liga in 2002, promptly sacked their coach and captain. The biggest decision though was when club president, Florentino Perez, according to his somewhat ill-fated “Pavons and Zidanes” policy, brought in the “T-shirt seller”, David Beckham. What Beckham did was; of course, sell Real Madrid’s T-shirts in faraway China and score a couple of goals from free-kicks. With an abundance of superstars in the midfield, one often wondered if Beckham was at all necessary to Madrid’s needs. The move didn’t pay off and Real went from bad to worse last season, where at one point they were actually in contention for three big trophies.
For all his superiority over Beckham as a player, Ronaldinho’s move worked because he fit into the team’s style immediately (or was it the team that changed according to him?). Real Madrid chose a superstar over an effective center-back, which is where was a void after Fernando Hierro’s departure. However, on Sunday, Beckham paid back to his club for the millions they spent on him, with his footballing skills.

Contrasting 2004

If the 2003 inclusions (or the non-inclusions) were a mistake by Real’s president, what then of this season’s signings? He seemed to have learnt his lessons when he decided on bringing in central defenders. Bringing in two of them was even better. But Walter Samuel and Jonathan Woodgate have been plagued by injuries and the prudence in signing Woodgate, given that he was injured when signed, has to be questioned. Perhaps, he is an investment for the next season, as he probably hasn’t seen a football in Spain yet. The most successful entrant though has to be Michael Owen and even if his decision to join a team which had three world-class strikers (Fernando Morientes though left for Liverpool this January) with it was surprising, so far Real have got their money’s worth from the Englishman.

Real Madrid now seem to be on the mend. The stars are shining and the desire to succeed is back in them. Perhaps, being out of the Champions League is only going to help them as the sole aim now for the Galacticos will be to stump the Catalans.