Casemiro key to Real Madrid’s 2-1 victory over Barcelona

Forget about the scoreline the key to Barcelona beating Real Madrid 4-0 on November 21, 2015 at Santiago Bernabeu was the master class display from Andres Iniesta.

He was applauded by Madrid fans joining the likes of Maradona, Ronaldinho as Barcelona players the Madrid faithfuls had applauded. He completed 96% of his passes, had 4 successful take-ons, 1 assist and scored a goal.

If you give Barcelona’s engine room space to rake this sort of stats then you have yourself to blame, because if he plays well the entire team will surely do.

Going into today’s Elclasico Barcelona had everything going in their favour; MSN scoring for fun, the team remained unbeaten after 39 games and Real Madrid failing to turn up in their clashes against top 5 teams in La Liga, but Zidane’s tactical tweak and ‘proper player’ use won the match for Madrid.

Report suggested Benitez started James Rodriguez based on fans request and board pressure, what ever the case might have been it was a bad decision on the night and that was corrected by Zidane in the 2nd leg.

Zidane chose to play Casemiro ahead of his back four just behind/middle of Kroos and Modric and the decision proved pivotal to their victory today. Casemiro silenced Barcelona’s engine room (Iniesta) and did a good job protecting his back four.

Casemiro won 100% of his aerial duels, had 81% pass accuracy, won 6 tackles, had 3 interceptions and 3 blocks. His blocks and interceptions were important today as that was lacking in the first leg at Bernabeu.

Suarez’s 1st goal was as a result of a through pass from Sergi Roberto that caught both Modric and Ramos off guard. Neymar’s goal was of the same manner as the 1st goal, Iniesta played him on from the midfield.

For Barca’s 3rd unmarked Iniesta drove from his half to play a neat one-two with Neymar before hammering it past Keylor Navas. For their fourth Messi was left alone in the midfield he turned and passed to Jordi Alba who assisted Suarez’s 2nd and Barcelona’s 4th on the night.

But today with Casemiro playing in the anchor, he was quick to snap those passes, covered his back four, gave Kross and Modric freedom to go push forward and help Bale Benzema and Cristiano up front.

We can’t take away the team’s total effort and some stand out performances from players like:

Marcelo One of Real’s best performers, he got forward well to create openings late in the second half with his support runs on the over-lap for Ronaldo and Co.

Gareth Bale probably Real’s best attacker for most of the game. Always full of running and energy, he showed his power in his individual encounters and stayed positive throughout. Had a goal disallowed for clattering Alba who couldn’t cope with his strength and directness.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored the match-winner, was seen tracking Jordi Alba in Madrid’s box, his contribution cannot be disputed.

Karim Benzema Scored the equaliser to nullify Pique’s goal and set Madrid up for a grandstand finish.

In the end Madrid ended Barcelona’s unbeaten run and Zidane became the first Real Madrid manager to win his debut El Clasico since Bernd Schuster (Dec 2007).