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by PAM
And so, Real Madrid CF finally prevailed, handing FC Barcelona their first defeat in El Clásico in 8 La Liga meetings (the second in 15 matches overall since December 2008) via a 2-1 victory last Saturday (early morning of Sunday in this part of the world)... in Camp Nou, no less! José Mourinho is at the doorstep of
Mourinho's Los Blancos, finally tasting victory
over Guardiola's Barça in La Liga.unprecedented personal glory: winning the respective leagues of four different European countries where football is almost a religion (in Portugal, in England, in Italy, and now, soon in Spain). Not bad for a manager who didn't play the game professionally! His Madrid men, one of the most expensive assembly of some of footie world's best players presently, finally fulfilled their team's promise in what must be the decider in this year's contest for the Spanish La Liga Primera Division title, with all due respect to their next opponents. With Los Blancos seven points clear above Blaugranes, with only four more games to play, Pep Guardiola and his captain, Carles Puyol and another key player, Andrés Iniesta, the "other" little genius of the Catalan side no less, may have, in effect, conceded the title to their biggest rival in their respective post-match interviews. While not conceding greatness, as they insisted that they have dominated the match - not a completely unfounded claim either, considering how exhausted this overworked team is this season - they have congratulated their rivals and vowed to their loyal fans that Barça's continuous quest for higher level of greatness this season... and beyond this season, does not end after the final whistle was blown in the last El Clásico at Camp Nou. Naturally, culés all over the world have no doubt about that... in fact, even when the scoreboard showed that Barça was not on top, no culé would concede greatness to Madrid... only this last Clásico, maybe.
Sami Khedira had his moment of glory by slotting in the first goal of the match to put Madrid on top early on, while Alexis Sánchez injected life to Camp Nou with an equalizing goal after coming on for Xavi. But the moment of jubilation was short-lived... an insistent and forceful will to win shone bright through the Blancos' emblem. And what do you know, the Blanco diva, Cristiano Ronaldo, put in the winning goal - effectively the Liga's winning goal, too - past Victor Valdes's area of responsibility. With the seemingly running out of steam Lionel Messi, unable to
Leo and Crissy... #1 and #2, in that order - always! whisk himself from the bee-like swarming of Madrid defenders, and therefore, unable to make an impact in terms of goals scored, the two Liga's megastars' roles seemed to have been reversed... hopefully just that once, as any self-respecting culé should be wishing. Then again, Messi was doing great in the match, while Ronaldo was almost just an average player... but he did score though - and he scored the crucial goal that will put Mourinho in the history books. The funny thing is, all of a sudden, a few obviously misguided individuals are declaring Crissy as the 'best player in the world'. Ooo-kay... I do have great admiration for Crissy's exceptional talents (not to mention his 'beauty'), but 'best player in the world' is too much, I believe... especially that he's such a great diver! That title is reserved for men who play the game with infectious childlike enthusiasm, dazzling incredible genius, and fantastic sense of adventure whose moves weave irresistible magic that make people - even those who are ignorant about football - fall in love with the beautiful game... and yet, with all their humility, they do not ask to be admired. In my book, in this era, it is Messi who fits that bill. But, yeah, Ronaldo is an incredible talent, too - no doubt about that... regardless of the drama queenship and off-pitch antics. ;)
Speaking of greatness... many were (plesantly) surprised by the absence of disruptions of 'violent' nature on the pitch, which marred the previous Clásicos. Well, I have an explanation to that: Real Madrid won. Unlike in the past Clásicos where Madrid received humiliating blows from Barça's sheer brilliance,
Pep Guardiola... always a gentleman.
Gracious in victory... and in defeat.the Spanish capital's team this time, proved dominant over the out-of-form Barça... and this calmed them. No need to resort to violence to forge the illusion of being equal in capabilities on the pitch by physically mauling the smaller-in-physical-stature rivals, to save face, to lick their much-maligned ego just like in the past. And Pep Guardiola and his men's integrity is bigger than themselves to resort to violence just because things are not going their way. Resorting to violence on the pitch when losing, or confusing the media with conspiracy theories within a League where you seek to capture the highest honor it gives, and therefore, marring the good name of the game, after a loss, is not the Barça way - will never be the Barça way, especially, not under Pep Guardiola. The Catalans are adept in losing beautifully, as much as they are in winning beautifully. This is why, most of the world hail them as the greatest team to play the beautiful game - ever!
So, yeah... congratulations to Mourinho, Real Madrid and the Madridistas! We lost a Clásico - and in Camp Nou, too. And, effectively, we lost the Liga, too - for the first time in four years. It is heartbreaking, alright! But today is another day. And the second leg of the UEFA Champions League semi-final tie with Chelsea FC, who beat us in Stamford Bridge last week, comes to Camp Nou. We paused to grieve our loss... but we pick ourselves up, to live another day of greatness... because that is the Barça way.
May this great team prosper even more! Visca, el Barça!
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Photo credits: All photos were grabbed from the Zimbio website - thanks!
