SPANISH LA LIGA Barcelona 1 Real Madrid 0: THE FIRST football match to be shown at cinemas all across Spain lived up to its billing and there was plenty of suspense.
And when the dust settled on a tense contest, the hero was Zlatan Ibrahimovic – the star who had appeared set for little more than a cameo role but came from the bench to crash home the volley that gave Barcelona a dramatic, nervy but ultimately impressive 1-0 victory.
There was huge satisfaction too for the home side having held Madrid off for half an hour after the sending off of Sergio Busquets on 62 minutes.
Not just held them off in fact. There were huge performances from the Barcelona defence, led by Carles Puyol, but they made the better chances even with 10 men.
In that, they were perhaps aided by the departure almost immediately after of Madrid’s most dangerous player – Cristiano Ronaldo.
It was billed as the greatest film ever shown and with the greatest cast. Leo Messi was included despite question marks over his fitness, but there was no place in the starting line-up for Ibrahimovic. For Madrid, Cristiano Ronaldo made his first start in 60 days.
Ronaldo was greeted with whistles every time he received the ball. But they spoke as much of fear as genuine loathing.
The fear was well founded. When Madrid stole possession and hit quick, direct balls Ronaldo’s way he unsettled Barcelona.
When the half’s best chance came his way, though, he failed to take it. Kaka came inside from the left, dashed beyond Gerard Pique and Carles Puyol and laid the ball to Ronaldo, alone to the right of penalty spot. Ronaldo struck low with the inside of his right foot but his shot was blocked by the leg of Victor Valdes.
Beset by Madrid’s pressure, forced further from goal than they anticipated, Barcelona’s best outlet appeared to be the ball into the gap behind Madrid’s back four and Thierry Henry spent much of the first half appealing for that very ball.
Mostly, he ran and called in vain. When Seydou Keita did play the ball through for him, it was overhit; on other occasions his frustration saw him fall foul of the offside trap. When it came to a straight sprint against Pepe, he came off second best.
As the second half opened, Madrid continued to look dangerous. Puyol made a wonderful block on Higuain as he cut inside and readied to shoot having exchanged passed with Ronaldo on a lightning counter-attack following a Barcelona corner.
But a minute later, the tables were turned – and Barcelona had the lead.
Ronaldo seemed to have outrun Pique but the centre-back, who handled his former team-mate marvellously for most of the night, recovered, won the ball and went striding out from the back. He laid the ball into the path of Xavi and kept on running into the area.
It was worked wide to Dani Alves, steaming forward on the right. The Brazilian had sent most of his previous crosses into orbit. This time, he got it dead right.
His ball sailed over Pique towards Ibrahimovic who sidefooted home on the volley. He had barely been on the pitch five minutes. The delight did not last very much longer, though. Within minutes, Barcelona had Sergio Busquets sent off for his second yellow card after he handled Lassana Diarra’s pass.
There was a warning soon after too when Ronaldo headed over - it was to be his last contribution. A Ronaldo down but a man up, Madrid pushed. Barcelona were grateful to a third superb, last ditch intervention from Puyol.
Yet still Alves was more outside right than right back and Barcelona should have scored at the other end when Pique headed over. There was a superb chance too for the other full-back, Eric Abidal, after a lovely move involving Xavi and Messi but he sent his shot wide.
Then, two minutes from time, Messi missed from six yards, his shot flying over off Casillas after Alves had produced a barely plausible pass into his path.
A minute later Diarra was sent off for a second yellow. There was still time for Madrid to launch the ball forward, but there would be no Hollywood finish.
BARCELONA: Valdes, Alves, Pique,Puyol, Abidal, Busquets, Keita (Toure, 66 ), Xavi, Messi, Iniesta, Henry (Ibrahimovic, 51). Subs not used: Márquez, Pinto, Maxwell, Chigrynskiy, Pedro. Yellow Card: Busquets 50. Red card: Busquets, 63.
REAL MADRID: Casillas, Ramos, Pepe, Albiol, Arbeloa (Raul, 74), Lassana Diarra, Alonso, Kaka. Ronaldo (Benzema, 66). Marcelo, Higuain. Subs not used: Dudek, Mahamadou Diarra, Garay, Drenthe, Granero. Yellow cards: Arbeloa 34, Albiol 41, Lassana Diarra 48, Pepe 69, Marcelo 79. Red Card: Lassana Diarra 90.
Referee: Alberto Undiano Mallenco.
Guardian Service
Ballon d'Or
FOUR players from Barcelona and two player from Real Madrid are among the finalists for the Ballon d’Or.
Lionel Messi is joined by team-mates Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who joined Barcelona in the summer from Inter Milan.
Samuel Eto’o, who scored for Barcelona in their Champions League win over Manchester United before moving to Inter is also among the 10.
Real Madrid’s summer signings, last year’s winner Cristiano Ronaldo and Brazil international Kaka, are included, as are Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney, Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard and Chelsea’s Didier Drogba.
The winner will be revealed tomorrow.
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