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Barcelona show who the special ones really are in La Liga!

David Nugent in Editorial, General Soccer News, La Liga 30 Nov 2010

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Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho is known as the ‘Special One’ but last night Barcelona proved who the special ones really are.

Barcelona’s 5-0 mauling of their bitter-rivals showed that they are still top dogs in Spain.

Incredible

The Spanish champions were outstanding. We have seen them rip apart lesser teams in the past but they ripped apart their main rivals and deserved the incredible win.

This was not Panathinaikos or Almeria that Barca were facing but a team who are rated as one of the best teams in the world.

Character

Mourinho is looking ahead to Real’s next match against Valencia. He told Sky Sports: “We must have character,”

“You cannot cry when you concede four or five goals. You must be anxious to return to work and win the next match.

“I wish the Valencia match was tomorrow and not Saturday. After such a bad match you must go right back to work, play and win.”

Real Madrid under Mourinho is a work in progress and hadn’t faced a proper test so far this season. Last night was the acid test for Mourinho’s young side and they failed. They had looked imperious all season but Barca proved last night that they are not at the same level of the champions.

Brilliant

Real Madrid was really poor last night but it was because Barca were simply different class. Barcelona played their usual high tempo game. They play with the same style every game with the same verve and pace no matter who they are facing and they didn’t change their style just because they were facing their biggest rivals.

Barcelona are truly a joy to watch. I don’t think I have ever seen a team play like they do. There are almost no new words I can find to describe the experience of watching David Villa and Co.

Team

Barcelona as a team has been together for a long time. Real Madrid by contrast seems to sign numerous players every summer. They lack the consistency that Barca has. Real Madrid haven’t been together long enough to have the sort of spirit that runs through the Barca ranks. That spirit was shown when all the Barcelona players and coaching staff celebrated Jeffren’s fifth goal.

And Barca aren’t just a set of individual world-class players, they are a true team. Although Leo Messi gets a lot of plaudits, he is still humble enough to say that he thinks that teammates Andres Iniesta or Xavi should win the World Footballer of the Year. Barca isn’t just a one man team.

Real might have great players such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Mesut Ozil but they are not yet a team unit. As Barca gained a greater grip of the game Ronaldo got more and more frustrated. In the end he hardly got a kick.

Coaches

Pep Guardiola vs Jose Mourinho was always going to be a fascinating battle and the Spaniard won all ends up. We all know Mourinho’s relationship with Barca and he was so desperate for a victory over the champions.

Mourinho was predicting victory, well just being his usual confident self. Guardiola was quieter and let his team do the talking. Guardiola got it spot on. He kept it simple by letting the players play their usual outstanding style.

Generation

The way Barcelona are currently playing they are coming very close to bettering the dream team, if they haven’t already. The likes of Messi and Xavi will go down as some of the best players to ever grace the Nou Camp.

Confidence

Even though they have been playing well this season the hammering of their nearest rivals will fill Barca with a vital psychological advantage over their rivals. Barcelona was behind Real Madrid before last season’s Classico and moved above them with a victory.

That victory gave Barca the mental edge over their capital rivals and enabled them to clinch the La Liga title. Although it’s a long season I can’t see Real stopping Barca from again reigning in Spain.

Madridista’s will have to wait a while to see the best of their team, as they need time to gel as a unit. Jose Mourinho will need all his strategic skills to help his players to recovery from this defeat. I wouldn’t be surprised if Barca now goes onto dominate at home and abroad.

Has Classico victory ensured that Barcelona will win the La Liga title?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David Nugent


David is a freelance football writer with nearly a decade of experience writing about the beautiful game. The experienced writer has written for over a dozen websites and also an international soccer magazine offline.
Arguably his best work has come as an editorial writer for Soccernews, sharing his good, bad and ugly opinions on the world’s favourite sport. During David’s writing career he has written editorials, betting previews, match previews, banter, news and opinion pieces.

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  • oluseyi

    0 0

    Am a barca fan for life,so I won’t say anything here.no I won’t b objective.

  • TIM/NY

    0 0

    AS FAR AS SAYING BARCA ARE THE BEST IN THE WORLD…YOU REALLY NEED TO THINK ABOUT THEIR OPPOSITION! GRANTED THEY DID HUMILIATE A FULL CREWED REALM. BUT WHO DO THEY PLAY NEXT…LA LIGA DOESNT HAVE ANY OTHER TEAM OTHER THAN THE TOP TWO.. SO ILL TELL YOU WHAT TRY AND WASTE YOUR TIME AND WATCH ANY OTHER TEAMS IN LA LIGA PLAY EACHOTHER…IF YOU CAN THEN YOU DONT UNDERSTAND THE SPORT AND YOU PROBABLY HAVE TO MUCH TIME ON YOUR HANDS!!!!! SO AS BARCA BEING THE GREATEST…YES IN LA LIGA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Justus

    0 0

    The basic truth irrespective of what anybody thinks is that, if there is any team that wins bacelona, it is basically because of their bad of preparation for that match and not because any team is better than them.

  • gloria

    0 0

    i agree. I’m mesmerised every time i watch barca play. They are truly a well oiled machine. They are the best team in the world. They are the special ones . Madrid have a long way and a lot workto do, to get to where barca is right now.

  • Brad

    0 0

    but that’s not any attempt to downplay Barca’s victory.

  • Brad

    0 0

    Team work will always beat teams like Madrid and Man City cause they never have any real chemistry.

  • jerry akinola

    0 0

    AFTER EVERYTHIN’ ALL THIS MADRID AND C.RONALDO SHOULD STOP,BECAUSE MESSI IS THE BEST AND BERCA IS ALSO THE BEST IT WAS A TEAM WORK TO DEFEAT MADRID

  • Brad

    0 0

    Real Madrid and Man City are so much alike now. . . . neither one are special in reality. It’s Barca and the ones City are trying to overthrow who are special. Plus, it never hurts to have Messi on your team, especially as he’s the closest reincarnation of Pele right now.

  • Chelsea FC Fan

    0 0

    @chris…

    haha – I know I know….my bad…it was a long day at work and I had nothing better to do.

  • damann

    0 0

    The only person to blame was Messi, coz he messed up the special ones night.

  • Luggya Alexanderson lords

    0 0

    You are right Dave, this Barcelona team is so so so special that now Jose shouldn’t say that he is the special.

    I think he should leave the name to the people who deserve it like the Barcelona team.

    Also Messi deserves the name of the special one because he showed people what he can do and top of that the likes of Iniesta, Xavi, Sergio Busquets and many more showed the world how special they are.

    The next time mourinho should try the tactics of plan c that he says he has leaving tactics of plan Aand B because they caused him problems.

    Is Ronaldo better than Messi????.

  • chris

    0 0

    uhh he didn’t do anything. like the article said. they stuck to what was working and didnt change anything. peps great but the barca players just killed it. I dont know if you are writing a movie trailer for the “twelfth man” but your kinda buggin me out. Barcelona deserved the win, and I can’t wait to see the next matchup with higuain and kaka fit to play.

  • Chelsea FC Fan

    0 0

    You’re right Dave – this is a very special Barca team…unlike any other team in the world…I hope Mourinho has the last laugh but Barcelona cannot be praised enough for exemplifying such quality in this beautiful game.

    So, greatness inspires greatness, and after 600 memerizing passes, 5 goals, 8 articles, 3 highlight reels and 2 sour defeats from two years ago…i’ve been inspired to say this about Barcelona’s starting 12th man…

    Barcelona play with a weapon that is no secret to anyone…it is an intangible asset but acts as a 12th man, you could say, on the field at all times…the 12th man doesn’t have a jersey, or a number, or a name…he doesn’t have a coach, a trainer or a substitute…he plays every where on the field, but not a single position…some might say it’s not fair – you can’t even see him…can’t touch him…can’t foul him, can’t block his shot, can’t intercept his pass or can’t score on him…the 12th man beat Madrid all by himself from the opening whistle…Madrid asked for the ball back 5 times…yet, they couldn’t get around or break through the 12th man…Barcelona got their 12th man on a free transfer, whereas Real couldn’t buy a similar 12th man with all their millions…I hoped that the Special One would have another show-stopping victory, but it was the humility and character of Barcelona’s 12th man that stole the show…

    That reminds me…Pep suffered a double-defeat to Mourinho in the Champions League last season…imagine the concern for him going in to El Clasico…how did he come out as the last man standing? How did he strategize against the Special One…what were his tactics to counter Mourinho this time? Anyone? Is David Villa really the difference in Pep’s tactics this season??

  • Chelsea FC Fan

    0 0

    You’re right Dave – this is a very special Barca team…unlike any other team in the world…I hope Mourinho has the last laugh but Barcelona cannot be praised enough for exemplifying such quality in this beautiful game.

    So, greatness inspires greatness, and after 600 memerizing passes, 5 goals, 8 articles, 3 highlight reels and 2 sour defeats from two years ago…i’ve been inspired to say this about Barcelona’s starting 12th man…

    Barcelona play with a weapon that is no secret to anyone…it is an intangible asset but acts as a 12th man, you could say, on the field at all times…the 12th man doesn’t have a jersey, or a number, or a name…he doesn’t have a coach, a trainer or a substitute…he plays every where on the field, but not a single position…some might say it’s not fair – you can’t even see him…can’t touch him…can’t foul him, can’t block his shot, can’t intercept his pass or can’t score on him…the 12th man beat Madrid all by himself from the opening whistle…Madrid asked for the ball back 5 times…yet, they couldn’t get around or break through the 12th man…Barcelona got their 12th man on a free transfer, whereas Real couldn’t buy a similar 12th man with all their millions…I hoped that the Special One would have another show-stopping victory, but it was the humility and character of Barcelona’s 12th man that stole the show…

    That reminds me…Pep suffered a double-defeat to Mourinho in the Champions League last season…imagine the concern for him going in to El Clasico…how did he come out as the last man standing? How did he strategize against the Special One…what were his tactics to counter Mourinho this time? Anyone? Is David Villa really the difference in Pep’s tactics this season??

  • chris

    0 0

    uhh he didn’t do anything. like the article said. they stuck to what was working and didnt change anything. peps great but the barca players just killed it. I dont know if you are writing a movie trailer for the “twelfth man” but your kinda buggin me out. Barcelona deserved the win, and I can’t wait to see the next matchup with higuain and kaka fit to play.

  • Luggya Alexanderson lords

    0 0

    You are right Dave, this Barcelona team is so so so special that now Jose shouldn’t say that he is the special.

    I think he should leave the name to the people who deserve it like the Barcelona team.

    Also Messi deserves the name of the special one because he showed people what he can do and top of that the likes of Iniesta, Xavi, Sergio Busquets and many more showed the world how special they are.

    The next time mourinho should try the tactics of plan c that he says he has leaving tactics of plan Aand B because they caused him problems.

    Is Ronaldo better than Messi????.

  • damann

    0 0

    The only person to blame was Messi, coz he messed up the special ones night.

  • Chelsea FC Fan

    0 0

    @chris…

    haha – I know I know….my bad…it was a long day at work and I had nothing better to do.

  • Brad

    0 0

    Real Madrid and Man City are so much alike now. . . . neither one are special in reality. It’s Barca and the ones City are trying to overthrow who are special. Plus, it never hurts to have Messi on your team, especially as he’s the closest reincarnation of Pele right now.

  • jerry akinola

    0 0

    AFTER EVERYTHIN’ ALL THIS MADRID AND C.RONALDO SHOULD STOP,BECAUSE MESSI IS THE BEST AND BERCA IS ALSO THE BEST IT WAS A TEAM WORK TO DEFEAT MADRID

  • Brad

    0 0

    Team work will always beat teams like Madrid and Man City cause they never have any real chemistry.

  • Brad

    0 0

    but that’s not any attempt to downplay Barca’s victory.

  • gloria

    0 0

    i agree. I’m mesmerised every time i watch barca play. They are truly a well oiled machine. They are the best team in the world. They are the special ones . Madrid have a long way and a lot workto do, to get to where barca is right now.

  • Justus

    0 0

    The basic truth irrespective of what anybody thinks is that, if there is any team that wins bacelona, it is basically because of their bad of preparation for that match and not because any team is better than them.

  • TIM/NY

    0 0

    AS FAR AS SAYING BARCA ARE THE BEST IN THE WORLD…YOU REALLY NEED TO THINK ABOUT THEIR OPPOSITION! GRANTED THEY DID HUMILIATE A FULL CREWED REALM. BUT WHO DO THEY PLAY NEXT…LA LIGA DOESNT HAVE ANY OTHER TEAM OTHER THAN THE TOP TWO.. SO ILL TELL YOU WHAT TRY AND WASTE YOUR TIME AND WATCH ANY OTHER TEAMS IN LA LIGA PLAY EACHOTHER…IF YOU CAN THEN YOU DONT UNDERSTAND THE SPORT AND YOU PROBABLY HAVE TO MUCH TIME ON YOUR HANDS!!!!! SO AS BARCA BEING THE GREATEST…YES IN LA LIGA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • oluseyi

    0 0

    Am a barca fan for life,so I won’t say anything here.no I won’t b objective.

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