With a total of ten players hailing from the other side of the pond, the ‘superclassico’ had a pronounced Latin accent, mainly Brazilian Portuguese (70%) but with Castellano representing Argentina, Uruguay and Mexico. Goal.com South America correspondent Aaron Marcus reviews the (0-10) performances in the memorable N-19 massacre of Wanderley Luxemburgo’s Real Madrid...
Real Madrid CF
Roberto Carlos (1): An appalling performance in every aspect. Both the streaker and the Catalan nationalist were faster and more interested in fair play. A string of attempted provocations towards a commendably cool-headed Eto’o culminated in a cynical trip that sent Cameroon’s ex-Madrid striker flying in Casillas’ box, but was ignored by the refereeing trio. Messi also made the previously zippy left-back look sluggish and easy to beat. Unrecognisable and likely to spark off a debate about if it’s time to call it a day if he repeats such disastrous play.
Pablo GarcÃa (2): Resorting to – and receiving in return – a series of elbows aimed at the neck of anyone who dared to outperform him in the air, Pablo GarcÃa is better off being the star in a team like Osasuna (no offence to Osasuna) than a lumberjack at Madrid. Poor pitch positioning and dangerous sliding tackles made him appear more like a Sunday rugby player than a first division footballer: something reflected in his hoofing clearances.
Júlio Baptista (3): On for the last 25 minutes, ‘La Bestia’ wiped all memories of his glory days in Sevilla away and reinstated what people who saw him in play for São Paulo suspected: that the most impressive thing about him is his physique. A beastly header – in terms of direction and the fact that he almost gave Carles Puyol a slipped disc – was the highlight of his time on the park.
Robinho (3): Where has the Ronaldinho-like joy gone? A moody, teenage scowl and a frankly comical (given his diminutive frame) ‘in-yer-face’ confrontational attitude seemed to have supplanted the play that thrilled Brazil when the Madrid number 10 was a 7 at Santos. The flashes of genius were short-lived and ineffective, and his ‘mala leche’ (bad temper, but literally bad milk) didn’t go beyond watery yoghurt or smelly cheese.
The attempted toe-punt at Valdes’ knee and consequent face-off with the (admittedly arrogant) Barça keeper plus an embarrassingly poorly acted penalty claim said it all. Although he could rightly complain of a lack of support, Robinho was a bad-tempered shadow of himself on a world stage: not exactly the sort of performance that’ll convince Parreira that the player has grace under pressure.
Ronaldo (2): Forcing a return to the pitch wasn’t the best idea the Fenômeno has had: after fifteen minutes he was red-faced and already suffering. Unable to get past the visitors’ offside trap, R9 was incapable of building up moves from midfield and cracked off weak shots that lacked positioning; except in his (rightfully) disallowed goal. Odd to see such a high-calibre player putting in such a low-octane performance.
It’s not often that Ronaldo (in the odd company of Zidane) is the worst on the pitch, but yesterday he was. Many are wondering whether his sudden weight loss was a Samsonesque curse and are missing the older, tubbier model. After his ill-advised anti-Eto’o declarations during the week, Ronaldo seemed to have come down with the disease that’s sweeping Brazil: ‘Febre Aftosa’, or, in plain English, foot-and-mouth disease.
Coach – Wanderley Luxemburgo (3): Guilty by association with the lax efforts of his own players, although innocent of the unstoppable barrage that Barça produced, Luxemburgo revived memories of his premature exits from many other clubs. In Brazil the tactician has frequently been accused of trying to over-theorise matters to the point of leaving his players dazed, confused and in short circuit. Only the Madrid players themselves know the truth, but with this sort of firepower at his disposal, Luxemburgo must have miscalculated his instructions big time. It may not have been his fault entirely, but he failed to respond to Barcelona’s tactics and totally missed his guess by relying on a counter-attacking strategy that made the game look like it was being played at Camp Nou instead of at home in Madrid.
FC Barcelona
Márquez (7): The sort of solid no-nonsense display that has confirmed the Mexican Captain as Rijkaard’s trusted mop-up man on the pitch. He was efficient in the air and sober when playing the ball out. Avoided the danger of being sent off after taking the yellow card warning seriously and roping in the apparently natural desire Rafa has to stick his leg far too conspicuously towards opponents. This was helped no end by the poor offensive baggage that the Merengues brought to the clash.
Edmilson (7): Although Rijkaard’s choice was doubted by many, Edmilson gave a mature centre-half performance that combined calm alertness with proof that he’s well and truly over last year’s knee injury. He dovetailed well with Rafa Marquez, the pair overlapping functions with ease, and didn’t resort to foul play in his tackles. Given the demonstration of his return to 2002 WC winning form, Parreira may well have put a tick next to the ex-Olympique Lyon player for next year’s Germany-bound seleção.
Deco (7): Perhaps not the sort of all-singing, all-dancing performance that the São Bernardo (SP) born player delivered with stunning regularity last year, but a competent performance that was almost rewarded with a goal. The number 20 kept a cool head despite Pablo Garcia’s attempts to put dents in it with his elbow, and had no problem with ceding the leading midfield creation role to a sparkling Xavi. The yellow card he picked up was unfair, but a refusal to rise to the bait dangled by harsh tackles afterward kept him in the game.
Ronaldinho (10): The sort of game that legends are made of. The Gaúcho’s game – particularly the second half – verged on such perfection that he was applauded by the initially (and predictably) hostile Merengue crowd. Even Salgado’s repeated attempts to kick and yank pieces off Dinho couldn’t stop an inspired number 10: the first Azulgrana to be applauded at the Bernabeu since Maradona in 1985. His two goals wiped Barça fans (culés) memories clear of the now-Madridista Ronaldo’s strike against Compostela in the 1996-7 season.
His first goal left Sergio Ramos (looking more and more like yet another Francisco Pavón, save the $22 million price tag) sprawling on the deck, made Helguera look equally as foolish before beating a Casillas who knew he had next to no chance of saving the ball. The second was a déjà vu piece of genius that gave Ramos another chance to lie down. All this was accompanied by a full repertoire of visionary passes and amazing ball skills. Is there anybody out there gullible enough to doubt that this is the best player in the world?
Messi (9): The comparisons with Maradona seem right on the money after the youngster made Roberto Carlos appear geriatric, showed telepathic understanding with Eto’o in the opening goal, and put in a first half performance that left Barcelona followers ecstatic. Viewers could understand why so many teams in Spain are frantically trying to throw a spanner in the works and prevent him from humiliating their defenses. The only ‘but’ is that he needs to work on his shot for the finishing to mimic the moves he makes. He forced Casillas into a solid block and his goal was justly disallowed for offside, but the overall performance (before Iniesta came on) was glowing.
Aaron Marcus
jes to rub it in some more
all Real supporters aka Madrista Dogs all yuh know all yuh self
