How Barcelona defeated Madrid

Barcelona assistant coach Tito Vilanova explained to Catalan newspaper El Periódico some of the key decisions that led Barcelona to win the clásico two weeks ago.





1. The line-up
Vilanova and Guardiola watched the videos that had been prepared by Carles Planxart and Domènec Torrent, the analysts who make the reports on the opponents. They made a report of Madrid-Zenit, the debut of Juande Ramos, but they also reviewed Barça-Sevilla of last season to find out more about some habits and specific details of the new Madrid manager. They found some.

For example "about his defensive strategy at set pieces and the fact that the two centre backs tended to play close together in the centre", confirms Vilanova. The Madrid line-up, predictable because of the big number of non-available players, wouldn't have an influence on that of Barça. The technical staff already had worked that one out.

There was a decision on ten positions and three candidates (Gudjohnsen, Keita and Busquets) for the last spot. "We chose Guddy because he played very good againt Valencia, he had the confidence, Pep believed in him and he deserved to continue to be a starter", says the assistant coach.

Leaving him out would have been a new blow for him, after last year he took part in the victory over Valencia in Mestalla and Rijkaard nevertheless preferred Deco in the clásico. But it wasn't a matter of sentimentality, Vilanova points out. "Guddy handles the ball rapidly, he can be dangerous by coming in the box from behind and he could hurt Guti."

2. Madrid
The most defensive Madrid of the last years showed they were feeling weak. They couldn't hide they were feeling inferior to Barça. "They knew that we play at a very high rhythm from the start and that they wouldn't be able to hold on", Vilanova shows understanding for the poor play of Madrid. "Therefore they wanted to cut our rhythm by stopping every action, making tactically faults and by letting Casillas win time with every goal kick".

He also analyzes the attacks on Messi with some understanding, but without approving it. Madrid had put in place a close and hard marking of the Argentinian, with one full back (Sergio Ramos), getting a hand from a winger (Drenthe), a centre back (Metzelder) and a defensive midfielder (Gago).

But despite playing against an inferior team, the coaches reminded their men that the opponents had the logo of Madrid on the shirts. "Their team was full of players with a worker's profile, who had a winning mentality like Salgado, Ramos, Drenthe, Raúl, Higuain, and we had to be aware of the counter-attacks, which was their only weapon".

It was in fact their only strategy. A surprising outbreak. And they had one with Drenthe. "With all the expectation surrounding the game, we went out there with a lot of hunger, too much hunger, and we hurried", Vilanova admits. It was half-time, Madrid was winning: they had kept the 0-0.



You can read the second part of this article in the coming days.