Real underline gulf in class with Nou Camp win
07/12/2003
Real underline gulf in class with Nou Camp win
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BARCELONA, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Real Madrid beat an over-cautious Barcelona side
2-1 on Saturday to claim their first league win at the Nou Camp in 20 years
and aggravate the crisis engulfing their old rivals.
Real
needed a slice of luck in a game that featured only isolated moments of good
football, with both their goals from Roberto Carlos and Ronaldo being deflected
past exposed keeper Victor Valdes.
They
also had to withstand a bit of pressure at the end after Patrick Kluivert had
pulled one back for the Catalans with a point-blank header from a corner seven
minutes from time.
Real
were well worth their victory, though, in what was a subdued Spanish derby
compared to the mayhem of last year's meeting, when the referee was forced to
lead the players from the field as missiles rained down from the crowd.
The
result took Real back three points clear at the top of the table, and a whopping
13 points ahead of Barcelona with 15 games played.
It
also served to underline the fact that while Barcelona may be Real's greatest
historical rivals, they are now hardly capable of troubling them on the field.
WILL
TO WIN
"We
deserved the win," Real coach Carlos Queiroz told reporters. "Barcelona tried to
take hold of the midfield in the first half and they did cause us some problems.
"We
came out with the will to win, however, and we might well have gone further
ahead.
"It's
only natural that Barcelona came back in the second half. They were at home and
they were losing."
Barcelona went into the match on the back of a 5-1 defeat by Malaga in the
league in midweek.
They
picked up in the same abject form as the players consistently misplaced their
passes and pumped aimless balls forward for Kluivert to chase.
Coach
Frank Rijkaard was unable to call on injured Brazilian playmaker Ronaldinho but
he did himself few favours with his team selection.
The
Dutchman, under increasing pressure from the voracious Catalan sports media,
opted to leave talented Argentine forward Javier Saviola on the bench and pack
his side with out-of-form defensive midfielders.
Real
could hardly believe their luck and Zinedine Zidane and David Beckham set about
carving up Barca.
"I
think it's only normal to seek a bit more security after losing like we did
against Malaga," Rijkaard said of his tactics.
"We
did succeed in limiting Real Madrid to that one chance in the first half and
that's to our credit."
By
Kevin Fylan