Tonight is the eagerly anticipated “el clasico”. Real Madrid v Barcelona at the Bernaneu. First v Second. Ronaldo v Messi. They are both undoubtedly world class players, but still poles apart. A simple tale of two penalties tells you all you need to know about the two.
Real Madrid v Villareal. Madrid winning by a country mile. Ronaldo jinks into the box and is brought down. Penalty. Ronaldo dusts himself down and takes the ball. As he prepares to take the penalty, Xabi Alonso walks across to have a chat.
“Cris, Cris. Dejame”
Alonso wants to take the Penalty. Ronaldo, Real’s penalty taker isn’t having any of it. Alonso is insistent. He is the only Real Madrid outfield player yet to score in la liga this season.
“Dejeme que mete uno” Alonso asks again.
This time he his more forceful and take the ball from Ronaldo. Ronaldo walks away with a face like a slapped arse. Alonso steps up and scores. Everyone in the Madrid team celebrates. Except one. Guess who?
Zaragosa v Barcelona. A comfortable night for Barca as Messi steals the show yet again. 3-0 up and they relax. Zaragosa make a fight of it and pull back two goals. Messi responds with another stroke of genius. He skins the Zaragosa defence and their only resort is to wrestle him to the ground. Penalty. Messi dusts himself down and takes the ball. Rather than take the penalty himself he passes the ball to Ibrahimovic. He later stated it was his gift to him because he deserved it.
Ibrahimovic had been on a poor run of form. He had fluffed chance after chance.
Ibrahimovic scored the penalty. That seemed to spark something as he went on to score in his next five games. That is why Barcelona will win tonight. They have the best player in the world, but he plays for the team, the best team in the world. Real Madrid are a collection of individuals. They may be “Los Galaticos”, but the sum of the parts is nowhere near what it should be.
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