Clasico – October 25, 2014.

The first Clasico was supposed to be one of the best matches of the season. It was, up until about 30 minutes lapsed. And then it all started to unravel in unspectacular fashion. One mistake after the other, things were getting worse. Injuries piled up. Stars faded. Substitutions seemed not to stop the bleeding. There was no fight to the final whistle. Is this the end of Barcelona as we know? At least for another season or two it looks like it. Factor-in the transfer freeze for two seasons it looks like the goose is cooked.
Losing a Clasico is not the end of the world. One team has to lose unless it is a well fought draw. The intensity is so much a result is almost always registered. Many times, it is easy to pick the exact mistake, a point of brilliance, or a lapse of concentration that led to the match-winning goal. Not this time. The gulf in performance was so large, there were flashes of November 2010, all in reverse. The 3-1 score line utterly flattered the control real Madrid had over Barcelona, at least in the second half.
Quite a few times this season we have seen Barcelona hold the ball and surround the opposition’s box in futile. There seems to be that final piece of penetration missing from this team. The only hope is that Luis Suárez provides that spark. In a way, he did. He had to be restrained by two defenders paying close attention every time he drifted into the box. The one time he unlocked the defense the referee harshly called a foul. The other unexpected problem was, there was no one else to capitalize on the advantage that Suárez created. So unusual of Barca. If Barca cannot lift itself against its eternal competitor Real Madrid, is there hope against smaller boring teams?
There seemed to be two matches being played by Barcelona in the second half. A direct game played by Neymar and a traditional possession-based game played by the rest of the team. Suárez seemed to be one of the players trying to actively engage Neymar in the game. When he was gone, so did the supply to Neymar. As the second half progressed, Neymar seemed to be more and more isolated, with plenty of space around him, but nobody passing the ball. The ball rarely moved through the left flank. When teams defend in numbers, Neymar is at a loss. He needs a little more space to swat around defenders as if they don’t exist. This game needed Messi at his best, at the very least, and he went missing, big time.
The first Clasico of 2014/15 season should be a stark reminder for Luis Enrique and the Barcelona faithful that the honeymoon is certainly over. It is back to the drawing board again. I have never seen Barcelona so low on morale. That should hurt the faithful.
A flash in the pan was Luis Suárez, who didn’t disappoint. He is one player who can shoulder the burden of a whole team, as he did last season. With fresh legs and missing a large chunk of the season, he should be more than hungry. And he is not known to choke on big occasions.
Until then, get your thrills when Atlético plays Real.