Who said Ibra hates the big games?
By: Rob | November 29th, 2009After all the hype for todays massive El Clasico, the game never quite reached the heights that maybe we all hoped it would do. Not that Barcelona will mind, they came off 1-0 winners after supposed big game bottler Zlatlan Ibrahimovic came off the bench to blast a corking finish past Iker Casillas.
I’ve always disliked the concept of the “big game bottler”, obviously its easier to do it against lower league teams, but ultimately you aren’t going to perform in every huge match.
It was an eventful game anyway – Carles Puyol put in a Man of the Match performance, putting in brilliant last ditch tackles on at least three occasions, and both teams had a players sent off for two yellow card offences – Busquets for Barcelona after an innocuous handball (he’s no Henry) and Diarra for Real Madrid after flying full pelt into Xavi at the death.
Barca now sit top of La Liga, two points clear of Real Madrid, so there certainly is some hurt pride in Madrid. But its far, far from over just yet.
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Category: Spain La Liga
Tags: 1-0, Barcelona, Casillas, El Clasico, Ibrahimovic, Kaka, Messi, Puyol, Real Madrid, red card, Ronaldo, Spain La LigaSubscribe
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Comments | Add your comment
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Can he score in the CL knockout stages? That’s something Marcelo Zalayeta has done, crucially for Juventus twice, and Ibra has failed to do in 5 years.
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Why is everyone saying this game didnt live up to expectations? Some of the best football I have watched in a long long while. The skill level is on an entirely different plane to the EPL. I watched Arsenal Chelsea right before and there is no comparison…
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Wait alessio, first let us reach the knockout stage..
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I agree with MoMONEY. Breathtaking match on an individual skill level, and on a team-play level on Barca’s part. And fans of both teams probably weren’t doing much breathing throughout.
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So real didn’t play well as a team ? Diane lol what a load of shit
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A few miracle plays by Kaka doesn’t mean the team is playing well as a whole.
Anyway, el Classico is far greater than the average CL KO stage game, so I don’t think we should be waiting for anything.
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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v291/wanganator/espnsucksssss.png
ESPN show why they are the leader in worl…. American sports.
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Andres, I didn’t say RM didn’t play well as a team, I said that Barca were breathtaking as a team. Even when they are not at their best, Barca’s team play never ceases to amaze me.
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I am praying for a Barca vs Real Madris UCL Semi Final. I think I would just drop out of school to bask in the glory of the matchup
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Oyes you cules never cease to amaze me with your delusion , Miracle play by kaka ? Are you serious ? Everyone on the madrid team played well you should dvr the game and watch it again because I’m not sure if you really paid much attention to it
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I still say he doesn’t show up for big games. Why? 1) He came in as a sub and back from injury; no pressure. 2) He never scored in a derby d’Italia against Juve and 3) He has such a fantastic goal scoring record in Champions… let’s not forget his shoddy performances for Sweden, either. When it’s all on his shoulders (which it will never come down to at Barca because of Xavi, Iniesta and Messi) and he comes through, then we can talk.
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No pressure in a Clasico? You high mate?
You say Ibra
A. doesn’t show up in big games
B. can’t perform when ‘it’s all on his shoulders’Doesn’t that speak poorly of Juve and Inter? Doesn’t it mean that it was ‘all on his shoulders’ every time he played in a big game? Where were the rest of the teammates in those games? Football is a team game after all..
Repeat after me – Ibra scored the winning goal (took his chance straight away as well) in the most high pressure game there is..
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It really is incredible how Ibra seems to inspire hate only rivaled by a certain smirking Portuguese
. The fact is he was clutch in a very tight and competitive Clasico in which his goal which gave Barca a vital +3 points in what will be sure to be an extremely close La Liga race. His sub in for an ineffective Henry also effectively changed the game by giving Barca a reference point on offense and his hold up play was vital in Barca keeping possession when down to 10 men. I’m a cule and I think RM played a more effective 1st half. The possession at that point (does anybody have the actual stats) seemed to me to be around slightly less than 55-45% in favor of Barca which for Barca is amazingly low. It speaks to the impact of Ibra on our possession game that in the second half, even while playing with 10 men vs 11 for around 30 minutes, Barca dominated possession enough to end the game at 64-36% possession despite the lackluster first half. It seems to hurt a lot of people but the bottom line is that yes, Ibra was clutch in a HUGE game.
Did you guys know that this is the first time that Barca wins two in a row at the Camp Nou since the days of the Dream Team? This lacks total scientific validation but I think in a sense, RM plays looser at the Camp Nou than at the Bernabeu. Their players are ideal for playing counterattacking football with speed demons like Kaka, Ronaldo, and Higuain being at their best on the run in the open field. In the 1st half their best chances came on counter attacks. I think they did a very good job. The problem is that if Barca gets 65-35% possession at the Bernabeu like they did yesterday, the crowd will start booing in a short amount of time. At the Camp Nou they don’t care but the Bernabeu crowd DEMANDS constant attacking especially against Barca. Compare the two legs last season. At Camp Nou it was a tight cagey affair decided in the last 10 minutes with RM playing for the counter and at the Bernabeu they came out to attack and got massacred. Will that affect the RM tactics in April? It will be interesting to see. A repeat of last season isn’t happening but it is intriguing to wonder anyways.
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in ibra’s defense he’s scored goals against Milan in that derby
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At Inter, Ibra was the only player the opposing team had to worry about. It’s hard to score when you get no service and you are triple teamed.
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Madridista: You go watch that game again (I’ve watched it twice now, gets better every time. If RM wins a classico anytime soon, you will realize this, too) and you’ll notice that while there were a few players at RM that played well, there was still no “team” there. That’s what happens when you sell a lot of players and spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a bunch of prima donnas.
And yes, Kaka had two miracle plays. Odd that you weren’t paying attention to your own team. Maybe you should come to our side if you kept your eye on Messi and co. the entire time.
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United States
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