I have a suggestion to make in the hope that we might just end up the year with some hope for the next one: let’s appoint Pep Guardiola EU supremo for solidarity and the common good.
But first let me eat half my hat. In recent days I have been warning that Real Madrid was a much stronger team than last season’s while suggesting that FC Barcelona, looking tired and demotivated, would find it hard to prevail at the first Classico of the season, at the Bernabeu.
Last night I was proved right about Real Madrid, but wrong about the outcome at the Bernabeu. To come back – as Barca did- after conceding the first goal within the opening seconds-was a strongly psychological and physical achievement by a team that is not just made up of extraordinary individual talent but which excels thanks to its collective dynamics and spirit.
Guardiola took some risks with his team selection but he was proved right. Thus Alexis Sanchez proved a much more threatening presence on the left wing than Villa, forging a formidable attacking duo with Messi, and with Cesc and Alves in support, while Pujol marshalled the defence.
With the exceptoion of Valdes’s early blunder,this was a Barca clicking in all the right places (not least Busquets, Xavi, and Iniesta) , and with the strength and belief not just to withstand Real Madrid’s relentless pressing and speed on the break, but to gradually reach a perfect balance between creativity and aggression.
Mourinho suggests that luck had something to do with the outcome. Ok, Ronaldo squandered two perfect opportunities and Messi was lucky to get away with just one yellow card. But it was Guardiola who turned this Classico into one cules and objective football fans will savour for many years. He raised FC Barcelona to another level of sporting excellence.
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