Sometimes all it takes is one play, one call by the ref, one substitution to change the entire course of a game. Real Madrid and Barcelona, battling it out for the top spot in La Liga, showed us that in fine form today.
Real Madrid played first, taking on Tenerife, enjoying their first season in the Primera league since 2002. They played well, holding Real goalless through the first half.
Manuel Pellegrini made two key changes during halftime, subbing out Esteban Granero for Kaka and Sergio Ramos for Guti. Two minutes later Karim Benzema found the net, his first of the season. He would score again 11 minutes later, followed by Kaka in the 77th minute. The change in the lineup, however subtle, led Real to victory in what would have otherwise been a very close call for Real.
With Barcelona, the effect of a single change was just as profound but a bit more obvious. Barcelona's game today against Malaga was not their best- I would have liked to see them control the ball more, slow down, connect more passes. However, the defense worked quite hard in the beginning 20 minutes and covered for the lacking midfield and strikers.
It seemed like Barcelona might not see a score until Thierry Henry suffered a leg injury in the 29th minute, and was subbed out for Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The effect was immediate. Ibra, who has already developed an almost telepathic connection with Messi, had several shots on goal within minutes of entering the field. He would see his attempts pay off when a gorgeous chip from Messi would lead him into the box and nail the ball into the near post right past the tips of Malaga keeper Gustavo Munua's fingers.
Dymtro Chygrynsky is not on my good side right now- he did a terrible job of marking in the beginning minutes of the game, and his mark got several shot on goal before Chygrynsky tightened up. In the second half Guardiola picked up on this, and subbed him out for Gerard Pique, my new favorite defender behind Dani Alves. Pique was subbed in the 56th minute, and by minute 59 he had a goal. Talk about subtle changes.
Barca had to deal with a lot of dirty playing from Malaga today- Messi was tripped in the box and then had his ankle stepped on by the same player, and he also had his shirt blatantly pulled numerous times. The ref was awful and never once awarded a card to any of the fine Malaga players who committed the crimes. There were also several trips and pushes in the box that should have been penalty kicks for Barca, but the ref was blind to those as well.
That being said, I'm glad my boys got their two goals and didn't give Malaga any points for their dirty tactics.
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