If early returns are any indication, the already-must-see Barcelona-Real Madrid rivalry might be reaching a new peak in 2011-2012.
Barcelona captured the SuperCopa after a 3-2 victory in Wednesday's second leg (5-4 on aggregate), with Lionel Messi scoring two goals, including a late match-winner, in a thrilling preamble to the Spanish regular season.
Barcelona twice took one-goal leads, but Real Madrid equalized off two corner kicks that weren't cleared, with Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema finding the back of the net. Benzema's 82nd-minute finish pulled the two-legged SuperCopa even on a 4-4 aggregate, but Messi saved his best for last to begin his season where he left off last year.
New signing Cesc Fabregas had a hand in setting up the winner, playing a ball to Messi, who touched it wide to Adriano. His cross was played back to an in-stride Messi in the center of the box, where the Argentine superstar finished to deliver another piece of silverware back to Camp Nou.
The end of the game was marred by a brawl following Marcelo's red-card inducing challenge on Fabregas, and Madrid manager Jose Mourinho appeared to poke a Barcelona assistant in the eye during the action.
Highlights from the match (and the brawl) are after the jump:
BARCELONA 3, REAL MADRID 2
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LPXYTLRsgY]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEH9BmYvz0o]
———————–
What did you think of the match? Do you see Real Madrid dethroning Barcelona as La Liga champions, or do you see Barcelona coasting to another title?
Share your thoughts below.
All I know from this game is that La Liga sucks balls
Jealousy? No, to be the best you need to score obn the biggest stage and Messi hasn’t done that yet, not even in the qualifiers. He is great playing alongside Iniesta and Xavi and Pedro and Villa etc.. Argentina is tacked vos sos amargo for not giving credit to the rest of the guys on the team. People like you make me sick for not giving credit to Tevez, Aguero, Dimaria, Higuain, Lavezzi, sos un boludo andate a dormir si no te das cuenta que hay equipo. Yes the defense was terrible but we should have been outscoring teams and not giving the ball up to put pressure on such a weak defense. Point is if they were to play as a team and not as messi plus 10 trying to make Messi shine then we would have won a trpohy in the era that we have the “WOrld’s Best Player”.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA Funny man, Wenger should buy him then but you know his is $1 over priced 🙂
I’m cool with Barcelona, so congrats to them. As an Arsenal fan, you can imagine how f’n annoyed I am that Cesc is on the team for one day and wins a cup. Really, really annoying!!
Arsenal beat Barcelona… best moment ever
I meant wait for the RM-Barca regular season games. I’m sure the strike will be over by then.
So, to sum up, you didn’t watch the match.
Thanks.
Where was Cristiano Ronaldo in all of that? Nowhere to be seen. Probably the first and only time I applaud him for anything.
PS, spencer, don’t be an apologist for Galacticos thuggery. It has no place in football, none.
You might have to wait…
Anyone else tired of watching these d-dags anymore? I haven’t seen either play in about 3 years, other than nat teams.
Adicts, I’m talking about el Clásico as a whole…ie, all the games last year and so far this year. No, the diving wasn’t as bad on last night, but it takes a massively blinkered Barcelona fan to argue that Barca’s diving has not marred this match-up the past two years.
No, I’m not suggesting that. And he got a straight red, so the appropriate punishment was meted out.
Who’s this Noone you speak of? New signing?
I’m right on board with you. I’d prefer to see a lifetime ban from football.
He is single handedly ruining Spanish football. Not to mention all the other crap he’s done throughout the year. When the UEFA Officiating Chief calls you the “enemy of football,” it’s time to go.
Jose Mourinho is the f*cking devil incarnate. I’m not even a Barca fan. It’s just fact.
maybe marcelo is an arsenal fan?
If they need to punish players for leaving the bench, what should they do to Mourinho, who not only left his area, but poked an opposing coach in the eye? Mourinho has a history of leaving his area and a history of having his players play like maniacs. I don’t think Barca has much of a history of players leaving the bench to get involved in a brawl. And then there is Mourinho’s press conference behavior. What a brat!
I think that you forgot that Messi scored in Copa 2007 quarter-finals and semi-finals from the run of play. He also won the U20 world cup with Argentina and Olympics. I know, it is not quite the same as winning the WC or Copa America, but Messi did not fizzle with Argentina in those tournaments.
Very entertaining pre-season games. The games had it all: lots of goals, skill, thuggish play, fighting, villains. Can’t wait for the regular season games.
i hope it’s a minimum of 5 games – i think it should be a hell of a lot more – Mourinho is ruining the games and it ALL comes from him – none of this would be happening without Mourinho at the helm – pathetic…
Omar, you are not suggesting that Fabergas dove when Marcelo scissor-tackled him, right? This type of tackle could easily end the player’s career or season. Cesc was very lucky to walk away without a serious injury. I also hope that you are not suggesting that Messi dove, when Marcelo kicked him with his cleats ealier or when Pepe threw an elbow at him? Dude, having played soccer, I’d rather play against a team that dives than a team that scissor-tackles, kicks with cleats and throws elbows.
Well said.
Sometimes you have to wonder if people even watched the games.
Messi is in Barca as mystic as Angus Young in AC/DC. Tremendous artists both of them! Sa-i ţină Dumnezeu!
who dove last night? who? messi? pedro? alves? busquets? who got a yellow card unfairly for madrid? what goal was the result of a dive?
on the other hand, marcelo and pepe acted exactly the way they did last april.
when madrid was playing and not beating everyone up, no one was diving. and it was shaping up to be a great match worthy of the marquee names and teams.
Alright, let’s start taking bets on the number of games in Mourinho’s suspension.
I’ll start us off at a c-note on 5 games.
If the ref sent off Marcelo (for kicking Messi with cleats) and Pepe (for throwing elbows at least twice) earlier, as he should have, the game would not have gone out of control at the end. There was absolutely no excuse for Marcelo to scissor tackle Fabergas trying to injure him with 30 seconds in the game to go. It was malicious, unecessary and crossed the line. And having seen the replay posted by SBI, which admittedly does not show exactly what happen immediately after Marcelo got his red card, I have doubts that it was Barcelona players that were causing the trouble. The replay shows that many Barca’s players acted as piece-makers – Macherano trying to calm down out-of-control Higuain, Adriano doing the same with Ozil, Xavi trying to calm down animated Castillas (Castillas was upset, but unlike Ozil or Higuain, not about to throw punches). Villa was the only Barca player who looked enraged and ready to fight, but he was restrained by Puyol, another Barca player. I actually watched the game and the most telling part for me was from another replay angle, which is not shown here. In that replay, Kaka looks at the players who are starting the brawl, shakes his head in disgust and starts walking away. I had the same reaction when the brawl took all the attention from high quality soccer that both teams demonstrated in the last two games.
Yeah, when I watched last night it looked like the ear — if he was gouging the guy’s eye, well, that’s ridiculous. And icky.
And spare me your thoughts on Barcelona being the innocent one here….their diving is well-documented and has played a large part in making this match-up a farce (along with Real’s hacking). And it takes a LOT of diving to out-dive a team that includes Cristiano Ronaldo. Sanctimonious Barca apologists amuse me.
Man, I hate everytime Spain and Barca win. Can NOONE beat those teams?
Should make for an interesting season in the La Liga.
Go Real Madrid 🙂
I am Argentine too and don’t agree with you . Argentina is not a stacked team like you say … this is the worst generation i’ve seen for us!!! all loosers. Be thankful Messi chose to play for us. Amargo. Messi can play in any team in Europe or S America and lift it. What happens in Argentina is that there is so much bad vibes and jealousy for him. That’s why the country is screwed up. Until they keep calling up the Zanetti’s, The Cambiassos, The Militos, the Di Marias Argentina will remain the same…Chau
Mourinho is a villainous turd, always trying to steal attention from the players, and self-mythologizing. If he were really a genius, would he be directing grown men on how to play a child’s game? Seems like kind of kind of a waste.
Get that reason out of here! It has no place on the internet.
But seriously, yes. And people seem to forget that Barcelona is one of the smallest teams in the world, and I mean that in a physical sense. Their players are going to get knocked around a lot when the average height has to be like 5’7.
Below average?
Bah. Messi has been Argentina’s best player by a long shot. I believe he is averaging an assist a game for Argentina playing as a central midfielder.
You know where the problem is? Your forwards cannot finish, and your defense sucks. But I doubt you are Argentinian in the first place.
And sorry to burst your bubble, but the Champions League has surpassed the World Cup in terms of competitiveness and team quality.
Well said.
You make it sound like Barcelona was equally poor in actions, which is frankly not even close to the truth.
Barcelona had a single game of bad diving that people use to say they always dive. They don’t embellish more than any other top squads.
Madrid… well let’s just say it’s tough to be a Madridista right now. We don’t take too kindly to this kind of thuggish play. We have so much talent that is just rotting away behind players who appear to be on the pitch solely to intentionally hack and injure.
And where is the respect for the Jersey and tradition? By the way, Mourinho gouged Titos eye, he did not pinch the ear.
This
Until Messi scores in a Copa America and World cup (non PKs) then he isn’t the best to me. Dude always fizzles away when called to the selection team and a player that doesn’t do it on the national team level on such a stacked team isn’t great to me. I am Argentine and i’m sick of seeing this kid produce on an allstar squad like Barca only to be below average on the albi celeste.
Both teams should be ashamed of themselves especially the players.SHAME SHAME SHAME!!!! Is all I can describe in this game. No love of football either. Shame. This is not a Beautiful Game anymore.
Better yet, why not fire Jose Mourinho. I like Madrid and Mesut Ozil is one of my faves , but last night was not cool and I put full blame on Mourinho, the man who sneaks up from behind like a little brat and assaults an assistant coach. Madrid could name Zidane as interim coach with the chance to keep the job if he does well.
I still don’t understand why David Villa punched Ozil in the face. Has anyone seen any explanation for that? Ozil is a nice guy and does not play nasty. I bet he is sporting a black eye today.
All that said, I cannot stand Barca’s diving and fake injury tactics they used in the extreme last April and always chasing the refs like a pack of wolves demanding yellow/red cards–and invading the turf en masse last night instead of letting the ref do his job.
I heard that Ozil stomped on Cesc and Villa hit him in the face in retaliation…
I also heard, not sure if this is true, that Mourihno actually kicked Cesc when he was on the ground when everything started.
So in the vaunted “Clásico,” to sum up, you’ve got Barca flopping everywhere, Real hacking everyone, both sets of fans doing monkey chants at black players, Mourinho squeezing a dude’s ear, and everyone blaming everyone else for ruining the games. You’d think for two teams so concerned with their image someone would start talking some sense.
It’s embarrassing for everyone.
Mourinho quite clearly eye-gouges Tito from behind. That should be the end of him.
But to top it off, he proceeds to start ranting in the press conference about how he did nothing wrong, he’s a man, and he has never heard of “Pito” (which means Penis)… not sure how he doesn’t know who Barcelona’s second in command is.
And then to make things even worse he has the gall to claim that the officials cheated for Barcelona again and that Marcelo should not have been sent off, Cesc dove… and when discussing his eye-gouge he says that he did the right thing, and that he didn’t go down at first contact.
You think we’re done? We are not. He then goes off about how the Super Cup is meaningless and it’s actually the “little tiny cup,” that Madrid doesn’t care about at all.
This man is a sick, pathetic excuse for a person who should be permanently banned from world football, which honestly should have happened when he ruined that official’s life and forced him to retire prematurely and move his family for safety reasons.
I read that Ozil was bunched in the face. I have no idea.
+1 bazillion
Jose Mourinho DID poke the Barcelona assistant Tito Vilanova in the eye and when asked after the game said he didn’t know who he was mispronouncing his name as Pito, which translates to ‘Penis’
As far as i can see Mourinho is ruining these games by invoking his players and they keep getting worse – although the play of Madrid was exceptional throughout the game – just wish they would leave the other stuff out of it – but i put it all down to Mourinho – he should be banned for a lot of games for his actions
*prays for both to crash out in humiliating fashion*
I read that Villa and Ozil also got reds.
I think the Mourinho ear tweak is kind of hilarious. Totally unprofessional, but a real laugh. That man can’t stand not being the center of attention.
I’m also curious to know who else got a Red in the melee. Marcelo got his right out of the gate, but a few minutes in the ref looks like he hands out one or two more. This is something all the coverage I’ve read has failed to mention.
Jose M is a little weasel. I had very little respect for him and his snobbish, nose in the air, don’t you know who I am attitude. But this latest cheap shot from behind on an assistant coach of the other team is a new low point for him. He then went on to talk about playing “like a man” in the post game interviews. Now I hope Real get bounced out of the champions league early just to see him get fired.
*prays for Barca/Madrid CL Final*
Its unfortunate that every classico has to end that way. The Spanish FA needs to go back and punish every player that leaves the bench and enters the field. The ref was already going to give Marcelo a red card, but the incessant need of Barce players every time their player gets fouled to want to brawl is just insane. It takes away so much from the game, and even Casillas said its unfortunate every game has to end like that. The last 5 minutes aside Messi’s game winner was great.