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Monday, November 29, 2010

Barcelona 5 - Real Madrid 0: Historic Rout in Camp Nou

Wow! I never imagined this. I've never seen a 5-0 in El Clasico (that wasn't on video tape). Here are a few quick stats and thoughts until I have time to go over this in more depth.
  • I could watch the first goal over and over again. Xavi passes to himself with his back heel in front of goal?!?! That has to be one of the coolest goals I've ever seen - from a guy known more for his passes than his definition in front of goal. In 100 tries, how many times would he be able to repeat that goal?
  • How amazing was David Villa? He didn't just open up the left side of the field, he tore a hole in it. His assists and goals were amazing.
  • Could Guardiola please play Busquets, Xavi and Iniesta together in midfield in every important game? That combination was amazing.
  • Where was Madrid? I thought that they would press up high and hold more possession than they did (35% or so). They couldn't get the ball back, couldn't keep it when they had it and barely had an attack worth mentioning. They didn't even defend well.
  • In their first 12 games, Madrid let in 6 goals. Against Barca, they let in 5 in one game!
  • This is the worst that Jose Mourinho (Madrid's coach) has ever lost in his career! Previous black marks were a 1-4 loss to Man U and two 0-3s.
  • How will the Real Madrid player's respond to this humiliation?
  • The last time Barcelona beat Real Madrid was in the 93/94 season when Romario was their forward and Cruyff was Barca's coach.
  • Josep Guardiola has coached Barcelona in 5 Clasicos - all 5 ended in Barcelona victories.
  • Under Guardiola, Barcelona has outscored Madrid 16-2!
  • 5-0 is called "una manita" in Spanish because you hold up 1 hand (mano is hand, manita, or little hand, is the diminutive of hand) and it has 5 fingers - get it?
  • I've seen this reported as a Manotazo or a big hand! It was a big win.
  • This could have been much worse. This easily could have been 6 or 7-0. Imagine!
Here's are the highlights, I'll be back with more tomorrow.

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3 comments:

  1. dustyNovember 30, 2010 at 11:53 AM

    Some stats for you. . .

    Pep's coaching record in El Clasico: 5-0-0
    The aggregate score during those games: 17-2
    FCB v RM passes: 636-279
    Xavi's passing: 114 out of 117 (97%)

    I agree -- Xavi's goal was tremendous.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Football FanáticoDecember 3, 2010 at 11:29 AM

    The two passing stats are amazing! What a team and what a player! Can Xavi win Player of the year already? Come on!
    I still have a 16-2 aggregate (not 16-4 like I originally wrote). Did I miss a goal?
    Thanks for adding those illuminating stats.

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  3. dustyDecember 6, 2010 at 1:20 PM

    The stats were not vetted, as they say. I think I got them from a match summary on the Guardian(co.uk). I'm surprised they could fit in the objective data amid all the swooning.

    With Xavi, Iniesta and Messi being the lone three remaining for the Ballon d'Or, I'd say the rest of the world has gotten the picture. Xavi is the favorite, as I understand.

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