EL CLASICO - Real Madrid Barcelona

Raul 1-0

Robben 2-0

Higuain 3-0

Nistelrooy ( p.k. ) 4-0

Henry 4-1



Barcelona defeated at Bernabeu

In the most one-sided Clásico in at least two seasons, Real Madrid strolled past a dazed and dejected Barcelona side to seal a historic, title-winning week...

Last time the Bernabéu crowd saw a team win a Clásico by a three goal margin, it was Barcelona who took the points. Tonight, November 2005 might as well have been a thousand years ago, for Madrid had their turn in the spotlight with a tremendous showing.

4-0 would perhaps have been a fairer reflection of what went on this evening. That's to take nothing away from Henry's late goal - a fine attempt - but for the vast bulk of the game Madrid utterly commanded the midfield and forward areas as Barcelona made a futile attempt at playing catch-up.

Critics will point to the occasional fortuitous refereeing decision in Madrid's direction and the intangible boost given by a title win, but make no mistake: Madrid were well and truly worthy winners - and the blaugrana, then, were deserved losers.

Bernd Schuster's Madrid line-up looked somewhat defensive to start with: no fewer than four recognised central midfielders lined up, although they did so in a staggered formation. Gago and Diarra were to put in heroic showings, while Guti, recalled, set up the first two goals. Overall, though, there was scarcely a poor performer from the home side, with even Marcelo, charged with shackling Messi, given plenty of time to strut his stuff further forward.

Barcelona, meanwhile, were at sixes and sevens almost from the outset. The forward line was given so little of the ball that they might as well have disappeared for a hot dog at times; the midfield was outfought in most aspects. There were some decent last-ditch tackles in defence, but overall, the blaugrana looked flimsy, lightweight and without conviction.

First Half

With the much-hyped 'pasillo' over without incident, the game began.

It was a relatively slow start, with only a bizarre piece of "possession" play from Víctor Váldes truly exciting the crowd after Robben's pedestrian effort, but despite some decent holding play from the visitors, Madrid were to register the first great chance.

Indeed, they scored from it. Guti played the one-two with Wesley Sneijder before tapping the ball to Raúl. The captain, rushing towards the edge of the area, curled a luscious shot to Valdés' left to delight the home crowd.

Being a goal to the good and having little by way of pressure either on the pitch or off, Madrid set about increasing their lead as they built forward with some fine passing play.

Still, the next strike came from a free kick. It was a controversial one: Sergio Ramos, cutting inside, collided with Abidal, which saw Pérez Burrull signal for a free-kick to Madrid when in fact it appeared to be the defender who initiated contact. No matter. After a re-take, Robben was allowed to rise and head absolutely, completely unmarked past Valdés to make it 2-0 after just 21 minutes.

Madrid were in cruise control now, and while that resulted in a couple of decent, surging runs from the Barcelona forwards, the hosts' shape was such that the through balls just were not forthcoming. Indeed, it was the Merengues who offered more by way of attacking threat heading into half-time. The effervescent Robben had the best of it: cutting in from the left he was denied with a low effort, but the roving Diarra quickly teed him up for another, which he blasted over.

Raúl should have added a second just before the break after Sergio Ramos slid the ball across goal, but 2-0 was still a fine tally at half time.

Second Half

Rafa Márquez, booked in the first half, came off for Sylvinho as the second half began. Frank Rijkaard's side adopted something of a 3-4-3 for a while, but it didn't pay much dividend. Diarra twice came close with mid-range efforts as Madrid continued to control the midfield.

Still, Sylvinho's introduction was a charmed move. He saved what should certainly have been the third after Guti, who had a case for shooting himself, squared the ball to Marcelo. The young Brazilian was disappointed to be dispossessed by his countryman, but it was a fine tackle.

What followed well and truly summed up Barcelona's evening. Sylvinho rose only for it to become apparent that he was in no fit state to continue, so on came Edmílson, a midfielder. Meanwhile, Gonzalo Higuaín strode on - and scored.

The super-sub just can't stop netting, and it was the simplest, yet most attractive of goals. Diarra, doing a fine impression of a right winger, squared it for the Argentine, who skipped past Puyol, possibly saw Edmílson trip over his own feet out of the corner of his eye, and chipped the ball over the onrushing Valdés. 57 seconds was all the time that he needed to make it three. Edmílson slowly picked himself up, and Valdés appeared to cry tears of anguish, but all eyes were on Gonzalo.

Still, it was a team performance overall, and Marcelo soon brought out the best in the newly-recovered Valdés with a tricky effort. There was no getting away from Madrid's dominance. Madrid coach Schuster clearly wanted more, so off came Raúl for van Nistelrooy, making his big injury comeback. Predictably, it didn't take long for the Dutchman to join in the fun. Robinho - on for Guti - saw his cross handled by Puyol (who, in his defence, was shielding his face), resulting in a spot-kick. Rolling it into the bottom right, it was as if Ruud had never been away.

With ten minutes to go, Barcelona finally decided to show us what they were capable of. First Messi weaved his way wonderfully through the middle before shooting a curving effort to his left from the edge of the box. It was like Raúl's early chance, only Messi did it all himself. But while Valdés was beaten by a brilliant shot, Casillas proved to be the equal of Messi's effort with an audacious, fingertip save.

Still, he could do nothing about Barça's consolation. Thierry Henry showed pace and keen anticipation to outrun Sergio Ramos, after which he fired a delicious finish past the stopper.

Nobody in blue and red could quite bring themselves to celebrate, and indeed any minor sense of joy was soon obliterated as Xavi picked up a second booking for dissent. As he jogged off with one minute to go, his teammates must have wished they could just get it over with and join him.

Indeed, they didn't have long to wait. Full time came, and Madrid had fully earned their 4-1 win.