White Hot Barca Melt Madrid...

Well, when last nights El Clasico ended, it reminded me of the Indiana Jones film, Raiders of The Lost Ark. In the film the Nazi baddies spent the first three quarters of the film beating back Indiana Jones and his side kicks, just like Real Madrid have been "mwuhahahaing" their way around La Liga crushing all comers led by their malevolent leader Jose. But last night it was their turn to get to their holy grail, and just like the villains in the Spielberg picture they got more than they bargained for and were melted away in a light show of epic proportions.

There were no surprises in the Real Madrid line up. Gonzalo Higuain wasn't in the squad due to injury. One tactical change was that Madrid chose to start play without their usual inverted wingers, choosing to play them on the sides of their stronger feet.

There was only one surprise in the Barca line up with Eric Abidal being selected ahead of Maxwell, I think this may have been done for defensive security more than anything else.

When the teams came out the atmosphere was electric. Both sides looked a bit nervous when defending but Madrid were snapping into tackles and the referee was letting most things go. It looked like it was shaping up to be an interesting evening. But slowly Barcelona started to take control of the game, zipping the ball at an immense pace Madrid started chasing shadows. And before you could say 1-0, Xavi, it was 1-0 and it was Xavi...



Once they conceded unless Madrid got one back quickly the game was in risk of running away from them, which it eventually did. In the first half Angel Di Maria was made to play as a second left back by Pedro and Messi who were imperious. What impressed me with Barcelona was the fluidity of their team. They were playing two formations with the same players.

Going forward Dani Alves was near enough a right winger, when this happened the back three of Abidal, Pique and Puyol shuffled across into a conventional back three and I think this is why they chose Abidal who Guardiola has played as a centre half in past games. This Real Madrid side isn't designed to handle this kind of attacking overload.

This shape that the Barcelona side took when attacking has a ridiculous amount of attacking options when they're going forward. But they are also covered defensively, with Busquets, Abidal, Pique and Puyol knowing their roles to ensure they team isn't left exposed to counter attacks.

The thing with this Barcelona side is that tactical chalkboards cannot give a good description of how they operate. The chalkboard only catches a still of the game, unlike other sides in which most players have a fixed position, Barcelona's players are constantly switching roles. Pedro, Villa and Messi all played the "false nine" at some point in the game. Alves played as a right back and right winger, Abidal was both a centre back and a left back. They had Iniesta and Xavi who both played as attacking midfielders and deep lying playmakers. Unlike most sides they come up against they have all come through the same system and have played together most of their footballing lives. They all know each others habits, strengths, weaknesses and next moves at an almost telepathic level. Real Madrid don't have this consistency and were overrun by the pass and move "tiki taka" of the Catalan side, they were outfootballed rather than tactically beaten. I think that this game showed regardless of the side Mourinho started with, there was only going to be one winner.

Barcelona 5-0 Real Madrid (Full Highlights)