...and if the ref had given yellow cards for any of the 5 knee high tackles on messi in the first 10 minutes, and if eto'o had put the penalty away, and if alves had laid the ball back to xavi who was waiting on the edge of the box instead of crossing it straight to casillas, and if....

regardless, I think Richard makes a good point. Drenthe ballsed it up and that would have made a huge difference had he scored.

I take my hat off to Barcelona and Pep Guardiola. In the first 20 minutes they played some great football and Real Madrid responded with unsurprising yet class-less bully boy tactics. Messi in particular targeted. They weathered it and merited their victory. I though Thierry Henry, so often someone who at Arsenal did not 'turn up' on the big occasions, was exceptional last night. Held the ball up superbly and linked with the midfielders very well. An excellent performance and honourable mentions to Yaya Toure, Messi and Rafa Marquez at the back. Even when Eto'o missed the penalty you still felt like the game was far from over and it was inconceivable the game would finish 0-0.

On the other hand, I think it was not a bad display from El Real. Their patched-up back four coped very well for large parts of the game - Metzelder and Cannavaro, considering how little they've played together this season, I thought were good value. Ramos at left back wasn't bad either. The midfield let them down though. I have said it before and I am going to keep saying it, Fernando Gago is gash. I know he is only playing because of injuries, but IMO Ramos needs to give Javi Garcia a run-out. Anythings better than Gago. He gives the ball away so often I lost count.

Top game, great atmosphere and Barcelona now look imperious. It is hard not to tempt fate by saying it is their title to lose. I doubt Real can come back from this, the only team I see challenging Barcelona now is Villarreal but they don't have the squad depth Barca do.

top call


it would be great, not mention hilarious to see them miss out on the champions' league

athletic beating sporting 3-0 and looking good for at least one more

It amazes me that people compare Gago to Redondo, he's not fit to lace Fernando's boots.

When fully fit, and playing in a 4-4-2, what would be Real's midfield, in your opinion?

For me it would line up a little like this:


LW - Robben

CM - de la Red

CM - Diarra? Maybe Garcia?

RW - Sneijder

I'd probably go with. I don't rate van der Vaart much either.

What, Barca would have lost then?

nope, after many reads still dont get your post

The weekend in full:

Valencia 2 - 1 Espanyol
Barcelona 2 - 0 Real Madrid
Athletic Bilbao 3 - 0 Sporting de Gijón
Getafe 4 - 1 Mallorca
Recreativo Huelva 1 - 0 Osasuna
Valladolid 3 - 0 Deportivo la Coruna
Málaga 2 - 0 C.D Numancia
Almeria 1 - 1 Racing Santander
Sevilla 1 - 0 Villarreal
Atletico Madrid 2 - 0 Real Betis Balompié

On Sunday, A virtuoso display from Renato and Adriano lift an otherwise flat Sevilla into third, leapfrogging Villarreal in the process. The yellow submarine look rather out of touch, Senna seems fatigued and not his usual busy self. Joseba Llorente's sending off means he will miss next week's big game against Barcelona. With Nihat and Rossi still injury concerns, that gives Manuel Pellegrini a real headache. Just below them, goals from Maxi Rodriguez and Sergio Aguero see Atletico go above their hated city rivals after a 2-0 win over Betis.

Mallorca's drubbing in the capital sees them drop into the bottom three with Espanyol climbing out on goal difference. Athletic's priceless home win over Sporting lifts them to 14th, above Almeria and Numancia. Recreativo's late win over Osasuna opens up a gap at the foot of the table but more surprise towards the top as Valladolid hand a shallacking to Deportivo to close the gap. [iLa Pucela[/i now have the second best home record in the league - they've picked up 19 of their 23 points at home.

The table:

Barcelona 38
Valencia 30
Sevilla 30
Villarreal 29
Atletico Madrid 27
Real Madrid 26
Deportivo La Coruna 24
Valladolid 23
Getafe 21
Malaga 21
Real Betis 18
Sporting Gijon 18
Racing Santander 17
Athletic Bilbao 16
Almeria 16
Numancia 14
Espanyol 13
Mallorca 13
Recreativo Huelva 13
Osasuna 9

did you see the goals? try and see them if you can, well worth it!

'appen I'll catch 'em on Revista this week. Similarly, Garay's goal for us is supposed to be a cracker.

oh it was!

Lassana Diarra signing 'imminent' according to [url=http://www.as.com/futbol/articulo/madrid-lleva-todo-dia-negociando/dasftb/20081216dasdasftb_17/TesAS[/url this afternoon.

Atletico Madrid interested in [url=http://www.as.com/futbol/articulo/futbol-atleti-interesa-jovenes-witsel/dasftb/20081216dasdaiftb_46/TesStandard Liege[/url duo as well, they report.