This El Classico win almost guarantees Barcelona of their 2017-2018 La Liga trophy !!
After the 1st half, no one thought that the scoreline will be like this. Real Madrid 0:3 Barcelona! In the 1st half Real Madrid was the better team. There’s no doubt about it. But Barcelona successfully soaked up all the pressure created by Real Madrid. This proved to be one of the main reason for their win. Let’s have a look where Real Madrid went wrong in the El Classico.
1. Lack of stamina of the Real Madrid players in the 2nd half
Real Madrid was playing a high pressing game in the 1st half which took a toll on their body in the 2nd half and they weren’t able to continue their high pressing game which proved to be a major factor.
2. Introducing Kovavic in place of Isco
Isco sacrificed his place in the starting XI just to allow Zidane to have Messi marked by Kovacic all the time. This lead to less creativity in the midfield. This tactic of Zidane proved fruitful in the 1st half. But in the 2nd half, it backfired badly as more creativity was needed in the Madrid midfield.
3. Real Madrid reduced to 10 men
Dani Carvajal took a red card for the team as he blocked the goal going ball in his own hands. Carvajal should have thought that fighting a battle with 10 men is way more difficult against Barcelona than going 2-0 down. If he had stayed on the pitch the result could have been different maybe.
4. Real Madrid did not take their chances in the 1st half
In the 1st half Real Madrid was frequently asking questions to the Barcelona defense. But could not capitalize on the chances. and missing easy chances in a match like El Classico is like scoring an own goal cause, in the end, you have to pay for those missed chances. Barcelona’s defense specially Ter Stegen performed brilliantly in front of the goal to keep a clean sheet. And then capitalized on their chances in the 2nd half.
5. Real Madrid’s substitutions
Isco, Asensio, and Bale were warming up at the hour mark and was almost ready to take the field to turn the game in Real Madrid’s favor. But that red card of Carvajal proved crucial and Zidane had to change his tactics and bring in Nacho in place of Benzema. And later on, Bale and Asensio were introduced. But that did not prove to be too effective as it would have been if the trio of Isco, Asensio, and Bale was introduced in the game early on in the 2nd half.
