The first of four “Clasicos” kicked off last night at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium in madrid and as always there were lots of anecdotes with the main one being Lionel Messi’s unsporting behaviour of vollying the ball into the crowd and hitting a fan. Defender Pepe called him “loco” and the ref didn’t even send him off.
Mourinho seems to be right in as much as there is one rule for Barça and another for Real Madrid. Albiol was sent off for his tackle which to be honest seemed a 50 50 challenge on David Villa with Villa play acting and going down like a sack of spuds and the ref pointing to the spot while getting out his red card for Albiol.
This match was a comeback for Carles Puyol which was short lived only to be stretchered off later on in the game. With ten men Dani Alves brought a player down in the box and the referee also pointed to the spot but without sending him off. Cristiano Ronaldo stepped up to the plate and rifled it past Victor Valdés.
Throughout the game there were card gestures to the ref from both Guardiola and Mourinho.The sending off certainly “conditioned” the game and forced Madrid to defend and attack on the break. Real Madrid had many more corner kicks than Barça and as many shots at goal on target.
So there we have it – a point apiece and 3 more “clásicos” to be played over the next couple of weeks.It certainly got off to a blistering start.
