“Real” repeated for the hundred and first time – Newspaper Kommersant No. 192 (7393) dated 10/17/2022
[ad_1]
On Sunday, in one of the highest rated and longest-running series in world football, called El Clasico, Real Madrid hosted Barcelona. The teams approached the face-to-face meeting, having an equal number of points and no less equal claims to leadership in the Spanish championship. Real Madrid won with a score of 3: 1 and single-handedly led the championship. In the Premier League, Manchester City lost to Liverpool with a minimum score, which was used by Arsenal, who strengthened their leadership thanks to the victory over Leeds.
Spanish Championship
The current meeting between Real Madrid and Barcelona was in some way an anniversary, already the 250th (if we take only official matches in all tournaments), in the confrontation between the giants that has stretched for more than nine decades. During this time, it was not possible to really find out who is stronger. True, Real Madrid’s numbers were still a little more beautiful – by yesterday, it had 100 wins against 97 for Barcelona.
The rivals approached the current Clasico by creating an ideal entourage. In nine rounds of the championship of Spain, Real and Barcelona scored eight victories each and turned out to be neighbors in the standings – it was led by the Catalans, who were ahead of Real only in additional indicators. Many probably had the feeling that this almost complete equality in numbers can be extrapolated to the real strength of the teams. In reality, of course, everything is not so simple. Yes, Barcelona looked good in the national championship. But after all, there she had not met with top rivals until yesterday. But she has already crossed paths with them more than once in the Champions League, where she managed to lose to both Bayern and Inter (Barcelona tied another match against the Milanese) and practically parted with the chances of leaving the group. Against this background, Real Madrid, with its ten points after four rounds in the Champions League, looks much more solid.
Real Madrid looked more solid during the Sunday match. Real Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti did not immediately turn on the duty home pressing mode. Instead, Madrid were slowly drawn into the game, allowing the guests to do the same. And then at the 11th minute they took and inflicted an injection. No matter how the Catalans tried to knock Toni Kroos off his feet, he still gave a killer pass to Vinicius. That Marc-André ter Stegen failed to beat, but Karim Benzema on finishing off (more precisely, you can call it execution) was much more accurate.
But, oddly enough, what happened to Barcelona did not shake. On the contrary, the team seemed to plunge into their own grief and, with surprising persistence, pecked through tightly closed flanks, over and over again hoping that it would be necessary to find Robert Lewandowski and he would come up with something. Once he even almost succeeded – Lewandowski closed the cross and miraculously missed the goal. However, in general, Real Madrid closed the Polish super-forward in the first half. And even before the break, without letting Barcelona recover, he doubled the score. A quick attack followed again, a pass to Federico Valverde and the shooting of the Catalan gates.
Barcelona mentor Xavi tried to remain calm while the match was going on, but during the break, apparently, he gave vent to emotions. And Barcelona moved. It didn’t look like an assault, and there was no cardinal improvement in the performance of the guests. But at least there was some effort. And thanks to him, another flank maneuver was nevertheless crowned with success. In the 83rd minute, Ansu Fati shot into the penalty area, Lewandowski, it seems, instinctively hooked the ball with his heel, he flew to Ferran Torres, who closed the gap in the score. But there was no tense ending. Eric Garcia fouled Rodrigo in the penalty area, and he set the final score 3-1 from the penalty spot. “Real”, thus, scored 25 points and came out on a clear first place.
English Championship
In the Premier League, the key confrontation of the next round was the meeting between Liverpool and Manchester City. Liverpool started the championship unsuccessfully and are unlikely to be able to intervene in the fight for the title, but they are still able to cling to a ticket to the Champions League. As for Manchester, it seems to be the main contender for victory in the championship. Yes, Arsenal loomed half a step ahead, but his stay in the lead seemed to be a purely temporary matter. Maybe it will turn out that way, but so far the Londoners (on Sunday they beat Leeds with a minimum score) have gone into a mini-separation.
All because Manchester City had a bad trip to Liverpool. After the first, some kind of academic, unhurried half, the teams started up and gave a real show. True, it seems that they competed not in who scores more, but in who misses more chances. The fate of the confrontation was decided by the episode in the 76th minute with the participation of Liverpool goalkeeper Alison Becker and Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah. The first gave a long pass, the second ran away from Manchester defender Juan Cancelo, and the goalkeeper of the guests Ederson failed to stop him. The Manchester team still had plenty of time to at least equalize the score, but their attempts did not lead to anything. As a result, the Manchester team had 23 points left, while Arsenal already had 27 points.
Next rounds of European national championships
English Championship
11th round. “Tottenham” – “Everton” 2: 0 (Kane, 59 (pen.); Hoybjerg, 86). “Aston Villa” – “Chelsea” 0:2 (Mount, 6, 65). “Leeds” – “Arsenal” 0:1 (Saka, 35). Manchester United 0-0 Newcastle. Liverpool-Manchester City 1-0 (Salah, 76). Command position. 1. Arsenal – 27 points (after 10 matches). 2. Manchester City – 23 (10). 3. Tottenham – 23 (10). 4. Chelsea – 19 (9). 5. Manchester United – 16 (9).
Spanish Championship
9th round. “Athletic” – “Atletico” 0:1 (Grismann, 47). Celta – Real Sociedad 1:2 (Aspas, 39 – Illarramendi, 30; Subeldia, 54). Real Madrid – Barcelona 3: 1 (Benzema, 12; Valverde, 35; Rodrigo, 90 + 1 (pen.) – Torres, 83). Command position. 1. Real Madrid – 25 points. 2. Barcelona – 22. 3. Atletico – 19. 4. Real Sociedad – 19. 5. Athletic – 17.
[ad_2]
Source link