Barca ahead, Real behind

Barça took the three points out of a suspense-filled clásico with two late goals from Eto'o and Messi deciding a game that they had utterly dominated and in which stellar performances from Valdés and Casillas kept the scoring low.

Not even a penalty, which was missed by Eto'o, or a series of clear-cut chances for either side, but mainly Barcelona, were able to break the deadlock in a tense game at the Camp Nou. Both goalkeepers, Casillas and Valdés, performed with sublime brilliance, and just when it looked like the night was going to end in stalemate, a curious goal deflected off the knee of Eto'o put Barça into the driving seat. The Cameroonian had earlier missed from the spot, but both Drenthe and Palanca had also come alarmingly close to scoring, but Valdés was at hand to save the day on both occasions.

The game was played from start to finish in intense rain, but nothing was going to dampen the spirits of either the Barça player or their vociferous supporters. As expected, Barça played with confidence, but lacked the effectiveness in front of goal of recent matches, and it wasn’t until the very end that they secured a famous win that puts them an extraordinary twelve points ahead of archrival.

Messi takes a battering

Real Madrid showed little intent of seeking possession and instead opted for spoiling tactics. Barça turned their constant possession into constant pressure, especially down the right, but it was clear that Real Madrid had one basic mission – to stop Lionel Messi at whatever cost. The Argentinian was the victim of just about every type of foul in the book, but never let it get to him, and it was he, in combination with Alves, that was the source of most of Barça’s most dangerous moves. The first half at barely started when the South American duo had already created three major attacking plays.

Drenthe gets best chance

But Real Madrid still looked dangerous on the counter attack and came closest to scoring in the 26th minute when Drenthe broke free into a one-on-one with Valdés, the Catalan keeper coming out tops on that occasion. The Madrid defence played with energy and thwarted a series of lethal Barça moves, and with Xavi failing to find the space he needed to manoeuvre, Puyol, Touré and Abidal were forced to move into positions to support him, with the latter enjoying a goalscoring opportunity in the 18th minute .

Spot kick woe

It was a fast and furious game, yet twenty minutes into the second half and there was still nothing to show for it on the scoreboard. It was then that Busquets came on for Gudjohnsen, and the substitute was almost immediately brought down in the area by Salgado in the 69th minute, with the referee having no option but to point at the spot. Eto'o stepped up to take it, but Casillas went the right way to stop his third penalty of the season. Two minutes later, the Spanish international keeper once again denied the Cameroonian a goal, while at the other end, an effort from Palanca in the 78th minute was expertly dealt with by Victor Valdés.

Eto'o at last

With Madrid having survived a period of relentless Barça pressure unscathed, the pace slowed off and looked to be crawling towards its conclusion with no goals for either side. But while Madrid seemed happy to settle for the draw, Barça had more ambitious plans, and finally got their reward from an 83rd minute corner that was first turned goal-ward by Puyol, before Eto’o managed to get an outstretched knee to the ball before turning away to celebrate the goal that decided the clásico.

Messi round things off

Frustrated to see all their hard work go to waste, Madrid pushed up for an equaliser in the dying minutes, but it was all too late and desperate. Barça let Madrid come at them and the likes of Hleb, Henry and Messi responded with counter attacking moves that eventually led to the goal that made it 2-0. Already in injury time, Messi sent a cheeky chip over Casillas and the Camp Nou was definitively able to celebrate a majestic win that sends Barça no fewer than 12 points ahead of the defending champions.