The Whites pull rank at Camp Nou and earn a seven point lead from Barcelona
Barcelona 0-1 Real Madrid
December 23, 2007 -The Clásico wasn't the most spectacular game from a technical point of view, but it was as tense and nerveracking as they come. With great drive, an unrelenting Real Madrid side did its best to dominate in attack throughout the entire 90 minutes. Baptista's goal gave them the victory and helped increase the team's seven point difference from Barcelona. The end of 2007 couldn't have been better.
This Clásico was surrounded by magic, uncertainty and great passion, just like all the rest that came before it. As they took the pitch, Real Madrid wanted to pull rank and increse their leadership in the competition, while Barcelona wanted to diminish it. Camp Nou was packed with 98,000 people ready to witness a special and historic match. Just before the encounter kicked-off it was announced that Ronaldinho and Deco would both be starters for Barcelona, that Guti would be benched and that Heinze would make Schuster's starting line-up.
Ruling over the first half
Both teams played a very similar game at the start, rather slow due to the respect they have for each other. None of them wanted to take risks in case they meant losing possession. Four minutes into the game the referee had already called out four fouls and Madridistas and Culés proved to move faster when they didn't have the ball.
The first chance of the clash, though offside, came in the seventh minute with Ruud van Nistelrooy putting the finishing touch on a good pass by Raúl. Four minutes later, Pepe came close to scoring from a free-kick by Sneijder, but the ball was easily grabbed by Valdés. Both sides worked very hard to reach the goals with danger. Barcelona's first clear chance came on the 22-minute mark through a good vertical shot by Abidal that Eto'o and Xavi looked to score from, but Casillas anticipated their moves and grabbed the ball.
Tension and nerves built as time went by. Valdés saved a free-kick by Sneijder in the 28th minute, followed by an aggressive and dangerous counterattack by Barcelona in which Iniesta spectacularly crossed the ball into the box for Eto'o to finsh off, but Iker managed to clear it in time. The ball fell back on Iniesta's shoes, but his shot was again saved spectacularly by Casillas (29'). Deco pressurized and took the reins of his team, but Barça just couldn't find a way to score. Iniesta tried again with a corss to Ronaldinho just over half an hour into the match, but Casillas again saved the day by clearing the Brazilian's shot. Deco tried to score from the clearing, but his chance was thwarted by Iker despite the fact that the Portugese player was offside.
And then came the Whites' goal. Van Nistelrooy and Baptista did a wonderful triangulation of passes between them, the last of which finished at the Brazilian's feet inside the box. Julio then scored a beautiful strike through the top right corner of the goal (35'). After that, Real Madrid continued dominating the game until half-time.
Alicante finally found their reward from their countless counterattacks when Drenthe tackled Borja inside the box; a penalty was awarded and converted by Borja himself.
The leaders pull rank
Nothing changed much in the last 45 minutes. Both sides were still extremely concentrated on the encounter, gradually making their way to the goals more often. The locals had a larger number of chances at the start of the second half; Eto'o tried with a crossed shot that missed the target (51') and Iniesta had a chance from the semi-circle outside the box, but his shot was grabbed by Iker (52'). Three minutes later, Baptista led a counterattack that finished with Robinho missing a good chance.
Aware of the danger Real Madrid were generating, Frank Rijkaard replaced Deco with Giovanni, while Schuster's men never gave up and continued having the offensive initiative, particularly through Baptista, who was tackled from behind right outside the box by Milito on the 67-minute mark -the Barcelona defender should have seen a red card-. Sneijder took the free-kick, but his shot was off target (69').
From then on, Barcelona used all their weaponry desperatley trying to turn the score around. Ronaldinho tried from outside the box (72’); Casillas saved yet another shot by Iniesta (77’); young Bojan came close to scoring, but the ball hit the near post (84’); Touré's finishing touch went out (85’); and Eto'o's powerful long shot was cleared by Pepe (88’). Real Madrid's defence did a phenomenal job, led by Casillas, one of the two best keeper sin the League -the other being Valdés-.
MATCH REPORT:
0 - BARCELONA: Valdés; Puyol (Zambrotta, 77'), Márquez, Milito, Abidal, Xavi (Bojan, 81'), Touré Yaya, Deco (Giovanni, 57'), Iniesta, Ronaldinho & Eto’o.
1 - REAL MADRID: Casillas; Ramos (Torres, 87'), Cannavaro, Pepe, Heinze, Diarra, Baptista, Sneijder (Gago, 78'), Robinho (Robben, 85'), Raúl & Van Nistelrooy.
REFEREE: Mejuto González. Booked Puyol (27’), Sergio Ramos (45’) Milito (69’), Ronaldinho (84’) and Baptista (87’).
GOALS:
0-1, min.37: Baptista.
NOTES: Matchday 17 of the Spanish League. Venue: Camp Nou. Attendance: 98,248.
Match report by Laura Navas
Photography by Alejandro González
Translation by Michael J. O'Donnell
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