#360view: El Clasico hardly a classic as attackers miss mark

Andy West 08:22 04/12/2016
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    El Clasico always promises so much, and Saturday’s meeting between those fierce old enemies Barcelona and Real Madrid was no different.

    What it ended up delivering, however, was highly disappointing as a notably low-quality encounter ended with the points rightly shared. The fact that both goals were headers from free-kicks says everything about the lack of incisive attacking play, with the individual quality of the players involved making it even more surprising there was so little goalmouth incident to enjoy.

    Lionel Messi appeared to be just as frustrated as the millions of fans who were watching all over the world, with the Argentine star foraging all over the pitch in an attempt to get on the ball and spark his team, but ultimately failing to make a mark by pulling his team’s best chance wide.

    His long-standing antagonist Cristiano Ronaldo was also subdued. The Portuguese star enjoyed a 10 minute period of danger towards the end of the first half, forcing Marc-Andre ter Stegen into a pair of routine saves, but he was barely involved in the latter stages as Madrid chased an equaliser.

    Karim Benzema fared even worse, with his lumbering and tentative performance making a significant contribution to his team’s failure to make the most of their first half dominance. It takes something pretty bad for a striker to be replaced by a winger when his team is trailing in the latter stages of an important game, and Benzema’s performance at the Nou Camp was just that: pretty bad.

    Barca's next four games

    • (H) Dec 6 - BMG (UCL)
    • (A) Dec 10 - Osasuna (LIGA)
    • (H) Dec 18 - Espanyol (LIGA)
    • (H) Dec 22 - Hercules (COPA)

    Not that the opposition No9, Luis Suarez, was much better. The Uruguayan star has been decidedly out of sorts in recent weeks, and another below-par performance was only lifted by his well-taken headed goal. The provider of that goal, Neymar, was probably the brightest of the attacking stars on show, putting his occasional tendency to showboat to one side to deliver a committed display and nearly producing a memorable goal by skipping past Dani Carvajal before shooting too high.

    But even more notable than the failure of the superstars to shine – indeed, perhaps even the wider explanation for that failure – was the lack of conviction in the overall performance of both teams.

    Neither Barca nor Madrid have played particularly well this season, often relying on individual ability to gain results rather than well-structured team play.

    Real Madrid's next four games

    • (H) Dec 7 - Dortmund (UCL)
    • (H) Dec 10 - Deportivo (LIGA)
    • (N) Dec 15 - TBD (CWC)
    • (H) Jan 7 - Granada (LIGA)

    Los Blancos showed what they are capable of in the convincing 3-0 Madrid derby win against Atletico last month, and to an extent in the first half at the Nou Camp.

    But when Barcelona grew into the game after taking the lead, Zinedine Zidane’s men simply had no answers and never really looked like rescuing a point until Ramos’s late set-piece heroics.

    Similarly, Barca’s first-half was another concerning piece of evidence that the team have lost their way. They were more or less playing without a midfield, struggling to maintain any meaningful possession and only offering sporadic attacking threat through their isolated front three, who had almost no connection with the rest of the team.

    So the game showed that although the individual quality of these two heavyweights cannot be doubted, their ability to knit together all that talent into a cohesive team unit certainly can.

    The potential is beyond question, but the Clasico report card would have to conclude: should do much better.

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