Average first half where he lost the ball sometimes unnecessarily. Brilliant second half. Sort of like the 3-1 win last December.
He sure knows when to step his game up.
Exactly. He was great with the ball on his feet, but he uncharacteristically lost possession on misplaced passes early in the game. Stood out because it was way below his standard, or even the average Barça standard.
But man, just beautiful to watch. A more intelligent/efficient dribbler than Messi, for my money (who seems to like to pick out a wall of players to run at, just for the challenge).
Not the prettiest thing he did on the field yesterday, but the way he and Adriano(?) managed to work the ball out of the left back against two Madrid players pressing hard. Any other team would have booted the ball up field, put it out of bounds, or lost it. They just kept moving, protecting the ball, and working it between them until Xavi made it over to support.