1 CdR Clásico Down, 1 More To Go...

Goodness.  Another Clásico?  Real Madrid hosted the first Clásico of 2012 tonight at the Santiago Bernabéu for the 1^st leg of the Copa del Rey quarterfinals.  Needless to say, the air was full of electricidad.  Good thing too –  Clásico matches always have this Madridista in need of an adrenaline shot to the heart a la Pulp Fiction.  I never know what to expect... other than the unexpected.

Real Madrid opened up the game at the 11' with a left-footed shot from Cristiano Ronaldo to the center of the goal, Karim Benzema at the assist following a fast break.  It was nice to see the Portuguese international score again, having not seen him score in the past few matches.  Barcelona attempted to equalize minutes later at the 14', Andrés Iniesta with a right-footed shot to the bottom left corner, but the attempt was saved.  Barça definitely craved goals with the way they kept pressing forward and kept pressuring RM's defensive line.  They attempted again at the 16', coming very close to netting, but Alexis Sánchez's header hit the right post.  Surprisingly, only two bookings were made in the 1^st half – 1 to RM (Pepe) and 1 to Barça (Piqué).  This Madridista always anticipates a flurry of yellows when it comes to Clásico matches, but there was another half to take into consideration.

Barça finally got their equalizer at the 49', Carles Puyol with a header to the bottom left corner, Xavi at the assist with a cross following a corner.  I must say that it was a brilliant diving header from Puyol, head of hair and all.  Karim Benzema came dangerously close to upping Madrid's score 2-1 at the 58' with a header, Hamit Altintop at the assist with a cross, but the ball hit the left post.  Barcelona's keeper of the evening, José Pinto, seemed quite relieved that he made the save.  RM's Fábio Coentrão was shown a yellow a minute later for a very late challenge on Lionel Messi.

Mourinho made a double change at the 66', taking Lass Diarra and Gonzalo Higuaín out of the match, putting in Mesut Özil and José Callejón respectively.  Not too long after being out on the pitch, Callejón receives a yellow for a bad foul on Messi.  What surprised me was that Pepe did not receive a booking for what he did right after.  While Messi was on the turf, the midfielder – in this match, at least – stepped on the Argentine's hand.  It disappointed me as a Madridista to see one of my team do something like that and not receive any consequences for it.

Barça missed an attempt of netting at the 69' with a header – everyone seemed to be favoring those tonight – from Sergio Busquets, but the ball went a little too high.  However, Barcelona got what they wanted at the 77' – much to my disappointment –with a left-footed shot to the bottom right corner from Eric Adibal, Messi at the assist with a through ball.  Adibal was left unmarked and played onside by Ricardo Carvalho.  Esteban Granero subbed Pepe at the 80', which was probably a good thing given how aggressively the latter was playing all evening.

Even with 3 minutes of added time, los Blancos failed to equalize and the match ended with a 1-2 defeat.  Hopefully the team can turn things around next week during the 2^nd leg at Camp Nou.  In the meantime, the men prepare for their next match in La Liga against Athletic Bilbao at the Bernabéu, Sunday, January 22^nd.  ¡Hasta al final, vamos Real!  Por siempre, para siempre - ¡Hala Madrid!

written by Gail Hidalgo