Real Madrid vs Barcelona

Laliga  El Clasico

Score:   0  –  4

26 October 2024

Santiago Bernabeu Stadium

First Half Game Analysis

This was the first El Clasico of the new season 2024/25. This game was extremely important for Real Madrid, as they were on a winning streak currently. They would have equaled Barcelona’s 43-game winning streak if they had won.

By losing to Barcelona, they have extended their point by 6 points ahead to 30, while Real Madrid have 24. 

The first half of the game was extremely exciting and entertaining. The fans had a very entertaining 45-minute of the game. Most of the chances were created by Real Madrid, but no goals, even after getting several golden chances to score goals. Mbappe should have scored in the 2nd minute of the game.

By 30 minutes of the game, Mbappe was 7 times offside, this, I would say, had caused a massive loss to Madrid in this game. 

Mbappe and Vini lacked precise finishing, the quality needed to score goals in such big games. Mbappe, being several times offside position, could not stay focused and rectify himself later in the 2nd half either as he repeated offside calls damaging goal-scoring chances. 

Repeated lack of clinical finish and offside calls led to the biggest shock of the season and El Classico. Mbappe, Bellingham, and Vini lacked clinical finish many times in the game. In the 19th minute of the game, Vini got the ball from Mbappe, and it was almost open post, but Vini swung the ball up over the bar, and the obvious chance was lost.  

When time and again I watched Real Madrid forwards miss such golden chances, I thought there might come a time in the later stages of the game when the team has to regret and pay the price for these missing chances, and the very thing happened in the 2nd half. 

Vini missed an early chance

In the 22nd minute, Vini had a golden chance to score a goal, but he swung the ball left of the near post for out ball. This was a sure chance for a goal, and if Madrid could not score a goal in such a position, then the winning chance of the game was poor, so I thought at those moments, and that turned out to be so true.

 

Mbappe’s goal in the 31st minute also turned out to be offside, but that was just by millimeters only and a bit of bad luck.

Mbappe goal offside

But I must say that the first half of the game was full of excitement and thrill and fans enjoyed every moment of this game to the fullest. Commentators did agree with my opinion as they said so too. 

Real Madrid played slightly better, and they should have been ahead with two goals or so by halftime. Barcelona, too, had several attacks, but they were not as dangerous as Real Madrid. 

Second-Half-Game Analysis

The second half-game was very different from the first half-game as the table had turned against Real Madrid. Barcelona got two goals within two minutes just after 10 minutes of the game in the second half. 

Lewandowski scored two goals in two minutes, and he made scoring a goal look so easy. The first goal, he scored one-to-one, from just outside of the 18-yard line. His second goal was by heading, and his both goals were scored by his precision skill which Real Madrid lacked so far in the game. 

Lewandowski goal

Mbappe missed another a goal scoring opportunity one-to-one with a keeper in a close range, but his shot was well blocked by the keeper. 

He should have gone around the keeper and just pushed the ball in. It was such a simple technique, but Mbappe failed.

Mbappe’s ball blocked

A minute later in the 66th minute, Mbappe was able to put the ball into the net, but again he was declared offside. Barcelona’s high defense line did a great job foiling Mbappe’s super chances of scoring goals. 

A stark difference can be seen here that Mbappe kept missing such obvious chances while the opponent striker converted such opportunities into goals. 

Barcelona kept creating several chances and did score two more goals, adding a total of 4 goals, while Real Madrid failed to score even after getting several chances. 

The defense was one major failure in this match as they, too, were playing high defending game. While Barcelona being a very dangerous team, Ancelloti should have prepared the defense line accordingly, but they played the game as usual with other teams, and here they failed to see the difference and had to pay a high price. The lack of proper awareness and strong defense skills lacked in defending players. Vazquez could have spoiled the 4th goal if he had chased and interrupted Raphinha’s running instead of trying to pull him with his hands.

Real Madrid players lacked proper coordination and good passes in the later stages of the game. The defense wall was almost not there anymore, and the forwards rarely got to attack with a good ball. Normally Real Madrid keep pressing at the end of the games, but on this day, nothing of the scene could be seen in this game. So the lack of team spirit had dwindled out and some hope of come back around the end too had vanished with no hope in the game. 

The game could have been better had not Mbappe, Vini, and Bellingham failed to hit the target precisely. The team could have focused on the defense, and thus, the result could have been better. I felt a lack of Courtois and Carvajal in the team as they play very differently and to some extent avoided situations like this. 

Ancelloti needs to reprisal his plan once again while playing against the big teams, find weaknesses in the team, and make immediate corrections for better results in the future. 

Statistics 

Real Madrid                 FC Barcelona

42%        Ball Possession      58%

9             Total shots               15

4             Shots on target        7

10          Corner kicks              3

11           Goal Attempts          15

12          Offsides                       1

15          Fouls                            17

2           Yellow Cards             5

78%      %Passes                     84%

 

Source: scorevisit.com