Reuters Soccer Blog

Soccer Break Friday – Clasico fever rises

Only one day to go now until Real Madrid face Barcelona in La Liga for the first of four ‘clasicos’ between Saturday and May 3. Excited? You will be now…

Barcelona destroyed their fierce domestic rivals 5-0 in November, and although the gap at the top of La Liga remains difficult for Real to peg back, they looked a very difficult team to beat against Tottenham Hotspur in the Champions League quarter-finals.

So, Real to narrow the gap, Barcelona to cut through Jose Mourinho’s men, or an edgy draw?

A former Real player David Beckham knows all about the drama of Barcelona meetings, and the England man is in the news in the MLS. Here’s a wrap of other games. Oh and here’s another Beckham story, it appears Fulham aren’t the only ones making statues of famous people.

On Thursday it was Portugal’s night in the Europa League, where three team progressed to the semi-finals. Villarreal took the fourth spot for a truly Iberian domination of Europe’s second tier competition.

This weekend in England there’s the FA Cup semi-finals and Manchester City’s time is surely now. Lose to Man Utd and manager Roberto Mancini could face a nervous wait to see whether he retains his job for next season. Triumph and they will face either Stoke City or Bolton Wanderers in the final, which you would have to fancy them to win.

One fan hoping for a Bolton victory has flown in from Australia, read more here.

Not a classic “Clasico” but a fascinating experience

Saturday’s game between Real Madrid and Barcelona had been dubbed “the match of the millennium” by sports daily Marca and for anyone living in Spain it was impossible to ignore “El Clasico” in the days leading up to the clash at Real’s Bernabeu stadium.

There was certainly plenty at stake for the protagonists, not least the chance to take a big step toward winning La Liga, but the country seemed in the grip of a fever at least as intense as anything I have seen during a major international tournament.

After exiting the Champions League and the King’s Cup, Real needed a first victory in four matches against Barca to keep their hopes of silverware alive and the match would probably go a long way to deciding whether coach Manuel Pellegrini stayed on next season.

It was also another test for Real president Florentino Perez’s strategy of investing close to a quarter of a billion euros in players pre-season in a bid to end Barca’s hegemony and boost revenue.

The spectacularly successful Pep Guardiola, meanwhile, had a chance to become the first Barca coach to win four “Clasicos” in a row and edge his side closer to retaining their title, one of an unprecedented six won in 2009.

Discussion of the match dominated the newspapers and television bulletins and it was a primary topic of conversation wherever you went.

In a country recovering from its worst recession in at least 50 years and with unemployment heading toward 20 percent, the prime minister, the interior minister and the leader of the opposition all took time out to give interviews about the match published in Saturday’s Marca.

Ibrahimovic volley gives Barcelona bragging rights

A Barcelona-Real Madrid game that veered from the brilliant to the banal, as is pretty much always the case in these contests, was settled 1-0 in favour of the Catalans by a great finish from Zlatan Ibrahimovic, following an even better pass from Dani Alves.

Real will go back to the capital content with their performance in all areas … apart from in front of goal. They will rue missing six or seven good chances to get something from a game that was pretty even, although that was partly to do with the sending-off of Busquets for a daft handball.

The result took Barcelona back top of La Liga but it obviously didn’t settle anything. What it did confirm is that Real have become a much tougher team to play against with all that new talent and that coach Pellegrini is on the right track. So they couldn’t get the ball off the Barcelona midfield at times? I can’t think of a single team that wouldn’t have had problems at Camp Nou against Iniesta, Xavi, Messi and the rest.

The Ballon d’Or will be announced on Tuesday and you can bet it will go to Messi, but after watching that match I was reminded that Iker Casillas and Carles Puyol deserve to be up there as well.

But what did you make of the game? And who do you think should be named Player of the Year?

PHOTO: Barcelona’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic reacts after scoring a goal during their Spanish first division soccer match against arch rivals Real Madrid at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona November 29, 2009. REUTERS/Gustau Nacarino