Can't wait for the drama!!

Nice offside goal.

Go Madrid!

Difference is Iker & Victor.

Always been. though Puyol was more at fault there.

Outside of Ronaldo it's the one position I'd take from Real above that of Barca's.

Barça leave too many open spaces, it might cost them another goal. And Madrid are surprisingly playing good defensively.

They haven't been great, just Barca haven't really been either. Pepe with a terrible square ball, Iker got them out of trouble, and again when Messi played Xavi through.

Iniesta got away with one there. Not sure how intentional it was, and it was on Pepe but he definitely caught him there.

Madness 1-1, then 2-1 straight away, Sanchez & Ronaldo respectively.

Dani Alves with a blatant stamp, shocking, absolutely shocking.

Big win for Madrid, a lot of credit goes to Iker, Ozil & Cristiano, all played really well tonight.

That's the difference between Messi and Ronaldo. Ronaldo is the match winner, Messi did nothing.

Fucking great result.

Do you realize how childish you're sounding? or is it your first el classico?

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Anyway, great game & win for Ronaldo and co. I think Barca lost to Pep above all. awful lineup (Thiago and Tellio were ****) and too late in making substitutions. I think he probably saw La Liga a lost cause otherwise it was suicide to rest Cesc, Alexis and Pique for this.

It was a sarcastic jab at the "Ronaldo doesn't turn up in big games" crap that people come out with.

Nice justice after the BS of the past month.

No one can say Ronaldo doesn't turn up in big game because he has (Copa final, CL final, etc.). it's all about consistency... I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't turn up against Bayern at all, under real pressure to perform and not against a half-arsed defense like Barca tonight. if he plays great and takes Madrid to CL final, I'll eat every words I've said about him choking in some big games.

You're making yourself sound just as bad to be honest here Zed.D. Last week you said Messi was the 5% better because he turns up for big games, tonight you're saying it's not turning up for big games but doing it consistently, even though you mentioned Ronaldo has anyway?! Messi wasn't great tonight, previously it's been Messi shining in El Clasico's, whereas Ronaldo has been faultering.

Then all this whining about they lost because they weren't interested and 'saw it as a lost cause' due to the team Pep put out, the only real reason Ronaldo played well because they had a 'half-assed defense' etc. Though, he will 'probably' faulter when there's 'real pressure' on him next week, well, how was he not under any real pressure to perform tonight, at the Camp Nou? I don't buy that theory.

It's for reasons like this why I stick up for Cristiano in particular, not so much because of him but because of the arrogance at times of Barca & Messi followers/fans/supporters. It seems that most Ronaldo fans will give Messi credit where it's due but the people who laud the ground Messi walks on can't stand Ronaldo getting any credit whatsoever, at least if it should interfere in their eyes with Messi's 'greatness'.

Sad really.

I promised I wouldn't get into another Messi vs Ronaldo argument. I wasn't even talking about Messi, why did you bring him to the debate? we're talking about Ronaldo here.

Barca's defense was half-arsed tonight, it's a fact. they were playing a DM in CB, isn't that obvious to you? I said Ronaldo had a great game tonight and I did give him credit, what else do you want me to do? LOL.


Doing it more consistently in those handful of big games. no player has ever turned up in all big games. Ronaldo de Lima, Zidane, Kaka, Figo... name everyone you want and I'll show you a few games where they've disappointed. I'm not an idiot, I never said Messi turns up in all those 5%, I said he turns up in more big games than Ronaldo. but that's not saying Messi has shone in every big game, it is not saying Ronaldo has underperformed in every big game either. I think you misunderstood what I said, or at least what I meant to say.

No comment...

Please, if you are that against it why on earth would you go out of your way to post a separate image comparing the 2 this morning? I mean I can understand why you did it but then please don't take the high-road at the same time about this debate when you posted a separate image to the Mourinho v Guardiola one directly comparing the 2.

And my comment was in relation to your previous responses one of which where Kurt mentioned Messi, then you said he was being childish, therefore Messi was in the conversation, previously.


You did vaguely, though you quickly bought all the credit down too, with the aforementioned reasons pointed out in my previous post.


You misunderstood, I'm not even sure what you're trying to say here. You said after the Bayern game what separates Messi & Ronaldo is Messi being able to do it in the big games, after pointing out his 'failure' in the Bayern game. Thus I got back to you on this with my previous post, then you made me aware that you actually meant on a consistent basis, even though you yourself had pointed out 'big games' CR has turned up in too.

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It's kind of why throughout the game, aside of the Alves disgusting play I tried to really, really not offend anyone on here about saying too much negative about Barca, for exact reasons like this.

Wow .. for some reason Im happy for this result, as this could cause Barca to loose track in Europe as well and get knocked out. They have dominated for so long, it was beginning to look ridiculous for any result to exist except for that in their favor.

+∞. Although I am happy for more than one reasons, but totally agreed.

Kudos to Real, they deserve this title. Were better over the course of this season vs the small teams and finally won the classico game in the league after 4 years. Saw only the first half till hockey started, was a disappointing game overall.


Don't agree with this. From what I've seen (not only here, but in other places also) there are enough people from both sides that won't give credit to one of them no matter what. So I wouldn't generalize like that.

It got better towards the end. At least after the two quick goals, particularly after the two quick goals.

If I was talking solely about this place I wouldn't have wrote 'It seems' before I said it. Though certainly from conversation with people online and offline the statement is more true than it's false.

Well, I have met many Ronaldo fanboys both online and in the real world so my impression is quite different.

Credit to Madrid, really. They played the perfect game in a stadium where it's practically impossible to win, especially in the big games. Those who had doubts about Mourinho should really start reconsidering their thoughts. This guy managed to transform Chelsea, Inter and Madrid from jokes to absolute winning machines, albeit with significant financial support. Fantastic coach.

To be honest, there aren't many who can do it otherwise either. From 0-5 to winning in Barcelona's stadium, and with it pretty much sealing the league title. Europe will be the final frontier for Jose and this Madrid team, and they are a couple of steps shy from their too. If he wins it with Real Madrid, that'll be history right there and then.

In 2009/10 Mourinho made an overall profit on transfers with Inter and won everything.

So, with his win last night, Villa Park becomes the stadium Jose has played at most without a win.

Gee!!! I just saw those images on another forum and thought I would post them here cause they looked cool. THAT against what? as long as Messi and Ronaldo play at this level this debate will exist, I against getting myself into it on here because, let's be frank, you and kurt are as biased as I am. we're just wasting our time.


Fair enough, I wasn't even aware I was getting myself into this debate by posting that. if I knew, I would have keot my mouth shut!


To be honest, I don't think Ronaldo set the world on fire last night. outside of his coolly taken goal I don't think he did particularly better than Messi. but in the end it's the goal what people see. no one sees Messi otherworldly through pass to Xavi in the 26th minute, his countless runs, being fouled a dozen times, etc. if he doesn't score goals, he has "done nothing" and has choked. just because he didn't score a goal from open play against us, he "choked", people don't want to remember the rest


For one last time, what I mean to say is that Messi does it more in those 5% (or whatever % that is, I haven't actually calculated it). if there's 10 big games each season, I'd bet on Messi to perform well in more of them, but I'd never bet on him having a 100% record in those 10 games. I wouldn't bet on Ronaldo to have just a 5% record in those 10 games, either. I hope you understand what I'm trying to say...


Just out of curiosity, did Ronaldo's constant play-acting and time-wasting after his goal bother you?

I didn't even notice it. Only time I noticed any time-wasting was when Ozil was taking a corner and he got wrongly yellow carded for it.

At least Madrid tried to get it int forward areas with the lead. Rather than the cheap Barca tactic of playing it around the defense. Beautiful football my ***. Guardiola got it awfully wrong last night and it just shows to me he is not a great coach ny any means.

Anyways, Madrid need 6 points to take the title.

Wait, let me get this right. People term the shtick Barcelona pull of beautiful football? That ping-pong of a style is incredibly soring for the eye, monotonous, and dare I say it, terribly sleep inducing. It's mechanical, and yes, it may win silverware if done correctly, but this is not how I imagine a game of football to be.

Depends on what the individual likes, but yes, it's very dull to me.

Nope, I said I can see why you posted it but you surely wouldn't have if you were that against the debate, just seemed somewhat odd to me but whatever.


Really, really?. I could say the exact same to you about Ronaldo last week when he actually made a goal happen and you said he didn't do it on the big occasion In fact I could say this almost every time because most people talk about Ronaldo's goal-tally in the 'big occasions' as oppose to anything else.

This is no detrement to Messi but when he's on the ball he had about 2/3 options on, whereas CR had to beat about 2/3 guys each time before being able to pass. The difference with Real is you can nulify Ronaldo to an extent because he's their real gamechanger however if you try and put too much emphasis on keeping Messi quiet you run the risk of leaving other guys wide open.

This isn't anything against Messi, it's just an observation that has been particularly evident over the past 18 months and was again last night. Therefore Ronaldo often has to beat people and at times when he fails at this people will label him selfish etc. In fact aside of a wild shot from the edge of the area in the first half he was far more of a team player than Benzema, Di Maria etc last night.

I'm not saying Messi doesn't have the ability to beat people, obviously he does and he's great at it but he also has an easier option on more often than not and that's what is so great about Barca, not what they do on the ball but what they do off it.


You mean when Mascherano fouled him? Or when Alves put his studs into Ronaldo's side? In fact CR after the Mascherano tackle he indicated that he was alright but the referee told the physio to come on. So, unless I'm missing something here?

Ah, Messi v Ronaldo. I think they should be placed in a ring and be done with it.

Interesting match last night, naturally I was rooting for Real but I was surprised with the general lack of cutting edge from Barca. Real defended tremendously, and neither both Messi and Ron played well, but Ron's contribution was more significant - he was my motm and took his goal superbly. Even the commentators suggested his performance and goal may even up the balance of those who consider Messi the world's best.

You truly are the most anti-Barça user on this forum.

Fair enough. But no, for this I am serious. The way Barcelona play, and most of the goals they score, I just can't get myself to like. I mean, we used to play possession football every now and then, but it wasn't this ugly, Barcelona just have devised a style that overcomes their physical weakness and perfected it.

But it's plain evident to see that there is no randomness, little flair and limited finesse in Barcelona's game.

I am not happy until Barca are finished in both. Chelsea took care of part 1, Madrid need 2 more wins to take care of part 2. Get it done!

They will. They took care of it in Camp Nou. Can't nearly see them losing two matches now.

How ironic that Barca will end up trophyless this season (can you really count the Coppa Del Rey after all the hype and hoopla sarrounding them?)

Bielsa will take care of that

Mourinho counted it as a trophy won in Real Madrid. I guess Barca will do the same. And Mourinho can't even taunt them about it. Shame, I'd have liked him to piss all over their season.

Maybe Real Madrid and Barcelona can have another CL El Classico for the bronze trophy.

Don't say it twice, I bet Platini is already thinking about it.

Well they tried everything they could to make it happen without making it more obvious than it already was.

Red card for Terry, soft Penalty for Barca
Offside goal for CR, soft penalty for Real

In the end justice was served.

Pretty sure Spanish Champions is rated higher than Spanish Cup? Or am I missing something.

I think what Jack's trying to say is that last season Real took that trophy so seriously (even if they did squash it under a double decker bus). So this season they can't really taunt Barca about it being their only trophy

They also have CWC and Super Cup, if that counts.

Anyway, reports in Spain say Pep will leave Barca this summer. He's probably gonna be linked with Milan soon.

I'm still not sold on him, he's had an illustrious set of players to work with, not saying it's not down to him too but I don't put him in the top bracket of managers... yet.

I think they have improved a lot during Pep and he perfected their style of play. Before him, despite having a very good squad, they had two successive trophyless seasons. Sure he needs to prove himself elwhere too (and seems like he wants that too as he was thinking of leaving a year ago) but no matter how good your players are, it's still very difficult to win 13-14 titles in 4 years.

We need a coach who can teach our players what the words "pressing" and "effort" mean. Pep knows those concepts very well. alas, in Barca's last two games he really made a mess with his decisions/subs.

He's still an exciting name, though.