La Liga: FC Barcelona 1-2 Real Madrid: Player Ratings

He made a couple of great saves, I noted three actually; but he squandered the two that mattered. He dropped the ball during a corner kick that was resulted in the first goal and he should probably have done better for that second goal. If only we had a time machine, right?

I can’t tell you what his job was in this game, nothing he did seemed to make sense. I didn’t note a single great defensive move from him, if you are going to argue that he was attacking do you think you can point out his great attacking move? OK his attempt after he was clean on goal on the 7^th min was probably worth something but Casillas was up to it. He did put an offside ball (Tello) into the net for a virtual lead on the 13^th min but I’m not even sure that’s worthy of filling this column. By the way why were all his dozen crosses blocked?

The team was not great but Mascherano was his usual self. He won the ball three times as the last man and two of those were his usual brilliant tackles. He made interceptions both in midfield and defense and he was probably frustrated on the 84^th min when he unleashed a thunderous strike high over the bar on the 84^th minute. He was booked on the 84^th min for a late tackle on Ronaldo, and of course he was the last man there as well.

The team has a lot of skilled athletes and intelligent individuals, but then it also has Puyol. It showed that he wanted to win the tie badly, but it’s the painful reality that you can’t do it alone, not in this day and age. His attempt at damage control after Valdes dropped the ball was a failed mission as he was not fast enough to clear the ball, or was he trying to shield it until his keeper could safely collect it? Taking that as an isolated incident, all his defensive moves were on par with the best from the onwards and considering the number of chances that the team allowed the opposition, he did a great job.

Man wasn’t he anonymous? He was no where to be found, always in the wrong place at the wrong time; In attack when he should be defending and vice versa, you need good timing to be able to achieve such a task. Where was he at "left-back" when Ozil made that pass for the winning goal?

Half the time he was forced to play center-back as both full-backs left their posts to embark on unsuccessful attacking quests. He made some crucial tackles but almost all the people he distributed the ball to seemed to be a little (might be an under-statement) clueless at times. Same with Masch, he was booked for a late or mistimed tackle of Ronaldo.

His performance deserved to be in a winning side, it was that good. Great passes, great tackles and great interceptions just to name a few. His decision making in the final third was worthy of an older lad than him and his long range attempt on goal was wide off Casillas’ goal on the 37^th minute. Better luck next time; maybe next time might be two days too soon, you never know.

I honestly thought there was a whistle I didn’t hear and he was actually kicking the ball out of play for that sitter on the 27^th min after that magical through ball from Messi that set him one-on-one with Iker. We had a chance to an early equalizer, a first half equalizer to be precise. His ball retention was at its usual best but how he used it left me surprised at best. Although his effort on the 69^th min was just about a yard wide, the attempt was like he had already seen the substitution board and was just showing his disapproval or frustration or whatever you might have in mind. Sanchez replaced him.

It’s a very frustrating thing for a Cule when a man touches the ball in the final third like he did and can’t do anything positive; in fact you would be forgiven to think he was an amateur had it been your first time watching play. Just how many passes can a man squander? No ball that left his feet was helpful for the team in the final third, and I like to think I took my notes well. Long passes lobs and through balls went out for goal kick or were directly to an opposition player. His header went over the bar on the 11^th min, his shot went wide on the 20^th and his first touch or control let him down (after a Messi pass) on the 23^rd.

He was forced to drop deeper into midfield as he got no offensive support whenever he was at his dangerous position; The Madrid system did well to close the most important passing lanes, or maybe it was the team’s passing which was not that great? He was always dangerous with the ball and Xavi, Iniesta and Tello could all have scored from his through balls if it weren’t for poor finishing, poor control and poor first touch; all in that order. His free-kick was easily cleared on the 13^th min and his shot was blocked on the 59^th. He was offside on the 41^st and 60^th min and he made some wonderful diagonal balls which won’t go unnoticed.

This game was a little bigger than him and his performance supports that. To his credit, he was always better positioned when he received the ball and he did some defensive work as well. He always seemed to attempt to play over the right-back’s shoulder with no success as the ball went out for a goal kick in all of his tries. It was a little frustrating on the 50^th min as he took two powerful shots in a space of 5 min which both went wide of target. At least his attempt on goal on the 70^th min resulted in a rebound that resulted in the equalizing goal, that’s gotta count for something right? He was substituted on the 81^st min and Cesc was the man to replace him.

He came in to replace Xavi on the 69^th min and scored what was an equalizer at the time, the only goal for the Bluagrana, less than a minute later. He was not really involved in much after that but at least he earned us some respect with his goal. Imagine if we were to lose by two goals, the thought of that is uncomfortable.

That was one horrible performance by the Bluagrana’s standards, especially for a home game. How can they claim to be attacking when they let the opposition form two defensive walls without sending a couple of their men in between; it becomes difficult to penetrate the defense and it’s asking a lot from Messi. The Game Plan was clear and straight forward but too many individuals squandered the few decent attacking moves we had.

The Coach got it wrong this time, by a huge margin. Tello shouldn’t have started in place for Pedro, with all the experience the latter have in Clasicos. He knows better than anyone that if there is one thing the capital club can do right it is counter attacking, but he gave both his fullbacks a license to attack, which meant Sergio had to play deeper than usual; he’s less effective down there, he’s best when he shields the defense, not when he’s part of it. I think he should have played it safe at the back with the traditional 4-3-3 until we got the leading goal or until in the second half when we might have needed a plan B. His changes were a little late as well; he probably should have changed something when we kicked off the second half.

The community voted for Valdes to proudly walk away with the Flop-Of-The-Match award and it’s hard to disagree, especially as he assisted the first goal of the game. Tello and Messi made a strong case as well in that order and that might be debatable; at least that’s what I think.