Phil Ball: Messi takes La Liga fight down to the wire

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  • Barcelona players celebrate after Leo Messi's extra-time winner in El Clasico.

    I love the Spanish phrase ‘Menudo partidazo!’ , partly because like all the best ones, it doesn’t quite translate, but it certainly describes Sunday night’s feverishly wonderful clásico.  ‘What a game!’ is more or less what it means, but nothing can quite capture the essence of Barcelona’s 2-3 win on hostile territory, partly because of the manner in which it happened but also because of the implications of the result.  It was also an unexpected outcome, running against the form-books and the growing tide of Real Madrid’s triumphalism.  

    Nevertheless, as the more cautious Spanish journalists had been suggesting all week, the clásico was Barcelona’s last-chance saloon and therefore another opportunity to confound the critics, to turn the dynamic of the season around yet again, just when all appeared to be lost. 

    Both sides have done this in recent history, using the clásico as the event to save their season, just as all had seemed to be lost. Barcelona travelled to Madrid under the cloud of their midweek exit from the Champions League, Neymar’s absence and Madrid’s euphoria after dispatching Bayern Munich. For the less cautious, the game was thus billed as the final nail in Luis Enrique’s coffin.

    In the end, 185 countries and 650 million people saw one of the best football matches in recent history, although more for the sheer unpredictability of its outcome than for its overall quality. The game was among the most open clásicos I can recall, with chances coming thick and fast at either end, once the initial caution had dissipated.

    With Javier Mascherano left on the bench, Barcelona started with a 4-3-1-2 formation, confounding the theory that they would play with only three defenders, using Mascherano as a back-line sweeper.  Real Madrid also left Isco on the bench – surprisingly after his recent performances – opting for the BBC instead of introducing a surprise element (such as Marco Asensio).

    Leo Messi had not scored in the last five meetings between the sides, but it was clear from the beginning that he was up for it, and it was also clear that the idea was to tempt defensive midfielders or centre-backs into tackles that might earn yellow cards and subsequently cause them to be more cautious in their defending. 

    Barcelona drew first blood by attracting Casemiro into Messi’s orbit, earning the Brazilian a booking in the 12th minute. In the end, this probably decided the game’s destiny, despite the fact that the same Casemiro opened the scoring after 28 minutes.

    Perhaps the game defies analysis, in the end. Either side could have won it, although once Sergio Ramos was sent off for a rash tackle on Leo Messi (Ramos is now the second most sent-off player in the history of La Liga) and Ivan Rakitic scored with a wonderful left-footed shot, it looked like curtains for Madrid.

    Curiously, with Asensio at the spearhead of some lively counter-attacks and Barcelona perhaps unwisely attempting to kill the game with a third, substitute James Rodriguez, of all players, scored an unexpected equaliser on 86 minutes. As the replay was broadcast, the frenzied commentary insisted that this was the season’s decisive goal, scored by a player who has been largely confined to the bench this campaign.  

    It was not to be. Given the break-neck circumstances, the strangely competitive nature of the ending (given Madrid’s 10 men) and the fact that in truth, a draw was of little use to Barcelona, up popped the world’s best player to do what the world’s best player does, right at the final gasp. 

    I watched the game in my local bar, where a crowd of ageing barflies tend to congregate for these occasions, along with the local policemen whose station is just around the corner. Those working the afternoon shift clock off at 22.00 and crowd into the bar when the game is of interest. Three of them, still in uniform, stood to my left and seemed to be supporting Madrid, which is unusual here in the Basque Country.

    When Ramos lunged two-footed into Messi, one of the policemen unwisely protested ‘But he never even touched him!’ to which I (equally unwisely) replied ‘That’s because Messi manages to avoid the lunge.  But it’s correct.  It’s a straight red’.

    Sergio Ramos.

    Sergio Ramos.

    The policeman seemed to take offence at this public contradiction, as if I was questioning a parking ticket he’d just given me. But I hadn’t finished. ‘That’s like saying that if a guy shoots a gun at me, but I duck and he misses, it’s alright’. The young officer looked uncomfortable at this metaphor and decided to remain silent, lest anything he said could be further used against him, as the legal phrase goes.  

    Back on the pitch, Ramos appeared to applaud the referee, Neymar style, before turning to Pique as he walked towards the dug-out and pointing up to the presidential balcony, presumably in reference to Pique’s famous phrase a fortnight ago regarding the (alleged) string-pulling judges who sit at Florentino Perez’s right hand. If this was his intention, then Ramos was presumably indicating to Pique, ironically, that he will not be suspended for three games, as Neymar was. Or perhaps there was a deeper meaning?  We shall see.

    Meanwhile, the league is back on.  Barcelona are now top, level on points with Madrid but ahead by virtue of the head-to head (the game in the Camp Nou was a draw) and goal difference. Real Madrid have a game in hand at Celta (to be played on May 17th), four days before the league’s final weekend. By then, Celta may be suffering from the distraction of their Europa League semi-final, six days after their second leg game at home to Manchester United, but Real Madrid also have the second leg of their derby semi-final against Atlético, exactly a week earlier. In-between, they play Sevilla at home. It doesn’t look like a cake-walk.

    Apart from the above, neither side has a massively difficult run-in, although Barcelona won’t be too delighted at visiting Espanyol on Saturday April 29th, with their neighbours on good form and seeking a European spot, and the home game to Villarreal the following week might be a shade tricky, but who knows?  This season, happily, refuses to settle and finish.  

    And if you think that Real Madrid’s lot is a tragic one this week, spare a thought for Leganés, also beaten in the 92nd minute at Villarreal, after themselves equalising in the 90thTo make matters worse, Bakambu clearly punched the ball into the net but the goal stood, despite the visitors’ protests.  Leganés are still four points clear of the relegation zone but without a win since March 4th. Little by little, Sporting are creeping up on them.

    To conclude, the show goes on.  This week sees a midweek fixture-fest, with Barcelona at home to bottom club Osasuna on Wednesday and Madrid visiting Deportivo.  Neither of the big boys can afford to slip up, and they probably won’t.  It suddenly looks as though things are going down to the wire.

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