BerkeleyBernie
Senior Member
Sanchez
Iniesta
Puyol
Sanchez made a great run and a difficult brilliant finish for the equalizer to put Barça back in the game.
Iniesta was the key player initiating the third goal, and was the best midfielder today, constantly putting madrid on their heels.
Puyol showed his authority at the back, brisk, sharp, no-nonsense.
Messi contributed, but gave up possession far too often in the first half with "ambitious" (i.e. ridiculous) attempts at running a gauntlet of Madrid defenders, resulting in having the ball easily tackled away and making Barça have to jump back to defend. He should have distributed a lot more passes like his assist to Sanchez. His runs are great at drawing defenders and pulling their shape, but then he has to capitalize on the advantage with such killer passes, not waste the ball trying to bust through the entire defense alone. Save the glory Maradona runs from the half-line for games already decided. Those runs always look fantastic when successful, but when you add up the 99 dispossessions on the way to the one that makes it through, it's more a matter of odds than brilliance.
Valdes; hey man, sporting of you to spot RM a goal to make it interesting.
Iniesta
Puyol
Sanchez made a great run and a difficult brilliant finish for the equalizer to put Barça back in the game.
Iniesta was the key player initiating the third goal, and was the best midfielder today, constantly putting madrid on their heels.
Puyol showed his authority at the back, brisk, sharp, no-nonsense.
Messi contributed, but gave up possession far too often in the first half with "ambitious" (i.e. ridiculous) attempts at running a gauntlet of Madrid defenders, resulting in having the ball easily tackled away and making Barça have to jump back to defend. He should have distributed a lot more passes like his assist to Sanchez. His runs are great at drawing defenders and pulling their shape, but then he has to capitalize on the advantage with such killer passes, not waste the ball trying to bust through the entire defense alone. Save the glory Maradona runs from the half-line for games already decided. Those runs always look fantastic when successful, but when you add up the 99 dispossessions on the way to the one that makes it through, it's more a matter of odds than brilliance.
Valdes; hey man, sporting of you to spot RM a goal to make it interesting.
