According to Sports Weekly all-media reporter Liang Hongye, Real Madrid defeated Barca in extra time to win five consecutive victories in the Battle of the Century, but Barca twice fell behind in the 90-minute game and equalized twice, showing a level that is already close to Real Madrid, which is an improvement for Barca.
Real Madrid started with a tactical advantage
Barca's starting line-up is logical, with only Ferran Torres starting out of three long-injured players Ansu Fati, Pedri and the newly introduced Ferran Torres, which is also the first appearance of Barca's new signings after three months. Luc De Jong, who has been in great form lately, is still starting, while Dembele has made people play as a left winger for Ferran Torres. In midfield, Frenki De Jong, who was injured in the China King's Cup last week, started a bit unexpectedly, after all, Nico and Pedri can play this position.
Barca began to press forward, trying to play their own accustomed style, and Ancelotti's strategy is very much in line with real Madrid's characteristics, and it is also very suitable for Barca, that is, not rushing to play the ball, but finding a passing route to play a counterattack. In the opening 12 minutes, Real Madrid's three strikers Benzema, Asensio and Vinicius each used a counter-attack to complete a shot, Barca's front field was unable to complete the broken ball, whenever Real Madrid could easily hit the Barca penalty area through the midfield, it can be said that in the first stage of the game, Ancelotti's counter-attack tactics beat Xavi's frontcourt pressing tactics.
Finally, in the 25th minute, Busquets lacked a line to play the ball and was cut off by Benzema, who then received a direct pass from Modric and sent a direct pass to Vinicius, who was powerless to prevent Vinicius from scoring a counter-attack goal after facing Benzema and Vinicius's two-on-one.
But Real Madrid's goals and tactical victories made the team lack of aggressiveness, and Barca did not lose the goal and morale was low, but played better and better, after 30 minutes, Barca gradually controlled the game and was able to play the siege in front of the box, while Real Madrid's counterattack almost disappeared. In this situation, Luc de Jong became Barca's best performer, using Dembele and Alva's crosses from the left twice to complete the header. Finally, in the 41st minute, Luc De Jong took advantage of Militang's clearance mistake to block the ball inside the goal and equalize, 1-1.
Harvey replaced the man with a big attack
The problem with Barca in the first half was that Felan Torres was clearly lacking the form of the game, and Frenki De Jong did not play at the highest level because of injury, after half-time, Xavi decisively replaced Ferran Torres and Frenki De Jong with Abd and Pedri, and Barca also ushered in their highest moment in the first 10 minutes of the second half, just five minutes into the second half, Dembele, Pedri and Luc De Jong's three shots made real Madrid dangerous in front of the goal.
For Barca's onslaught, Real Madrid also reacted, the first to stand out is Vinicius, his continuous breakthroughs on the left side of Alves let Barca people re-realize that Real Madrid's front line is not without threat, driven by Vinicius, Real Madrid also played more and more bravely, the game has been obvious after 60 minutes of exchange counterattack scene. It was clear that Xavi and Ancelotti had also noticed this change in the situation on the pitch, with both sides handing out similar answers, both replacing players better suited to counterattack, Xavi replacing center Luc De Jong with Ansu Fati, and Ancelotti replacing Asensio with the faster Rodrigues.
Real Madrid, who are more likely to play counter-attacks, took the lead first, first Karmez Ma used the counter-attack to hit the goalpost, and then the French center took advantage of the opportunity of Karl Wajal's cross from the right that was blocked by Ter Stegen to take the lead again, 2-1.
However, Real Madrid once again led and failed to beat Barca's offensive arrogance, and Dembele became the engine of Barca's attack, constantly breaking through on the left to create corners. Xavi also made a disastrous substitution, replacing Alves and Garvey with Nico and Memphis for the three centre-backs, with Memphis playing as a forward behind Ansu Fati, and the game proved that the front waist was a more suitable position for the Dutch than the center forward. Finally, in the 83rd minute, Ansu Fati received a cross from Alva and equalized, 2-2.
In extra time, Barca still lost to Real Madrid's counter-attack
The game entered extra time, in view of the high rhythm played by the two teams in the previous 90 minutes, the physical strength of both sides was reached to the limit, and the first to score was Real Madrid, or the use of counterattack, in the 98th minute, after Kroos's excess, Casemiro launched a counterattack with the ball, Alva despite wanting to commit a tactical foul, but the shovel did not bring down Casemiro, at this time there was a 6-3 counterattack scene of Real Madrid, and finally by rodrigue, who was replaced in the second half, Valverde scored the ball, 3-2. Busquets and Dembele then had two shots in 1 minute saved by Courtois.
In the following matches, Pedri, who had not played for 4 months and had just won the new crown, was already visibly physically weak despite being a steel appearance in the second half, while Vinicius had already fought to the point of cramping. There were few shots from both sides since then. Until the last 2 minutes of the game, first Ansu Fati's back-hook shot in front of the goal did not miss the last chance to equalize, and Real Madrid had a counter-attack opportunity in the last minute, Rodrigues missed a one-handed opportunity.
Throughout the game, Real Madrid's use of counterattack to defeat Barca is a normal result that everyone can expect, but Barca has fallen behind 2 times and equalized twice, and finally fell in extra time, and it is beyond people's expectations to suppress Real Madrid for a long time in the game.