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Luis Suarez suffers a reality check as Real Madrid make most of a shift in power
Former Liverpool striker shines but misses out on debut win as Barcelona’s ageing midfield is blown away by the strength and athleticism of their oppoents
10:30PM GMT 26 Oct 2014
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Through nearly three months of self‑inflicted absence Luis Suárez had been watching his new mates storm La Liga. Top of the league after eight games, without a goal conceded, it had been like 2010 all over again at Barcelona. This was a team that looked for a moment as if it had rediscovered its title-winning mojo. Then Suárez made his first appearance in a red and blue shirt. And suddenly reality bit.
“Obviously, you always want to mark your debut with a victory, all the more so in games like this,” said the Uruguayan, as he stood in the chaotic scramble of the aftermatch interview area after the 3-1 defeat byReal Madrid at the Bernabéu Stadium. “But it didn’t happen.”
In truth, the former Liverpool man, the player who had electrified the Premier League last season, was not remotely to blame for Barcelona’s defeat. Indeed for the first 20 minutes he had looked entirely at home in such company, providing the pass for the opening goal and almost creating another assist, when his deliciously inviting cross was met by an unmarked Lionel Messi, who hesitated enough to allow Iker Casillas to scramble his shot clear. But ultimately, Suárez had come across a better team. On the day, a much better team. For the Uruguayan, bought to provide a bit of forward bite to a side too often and too easily bullied last season by physically stronger opponents, this was as chastening a defeat as he can have experienced in the game. Even when you line up on the shoulder of talents as elevated as Messi and Neymar, that is no guarantee of success against a side as strong as this Madrid.
“It is very difficult to play here,” he said of the Bernabéu. “But I did all that I can and I leave here with the sensation that the team did everything. It wasn’t to be. We thought we had the game under control, we had chances to score and in games like this is always difficult if you don’t take your chances. In the second half their speed caught us by surprise and they killed us on the counter-attack.”
Suárez’s was an astute reading. Midway through the first half, had Messi taken that chance to score provided by his wonderful arcing cross, then Barcelona would have established a 2-1 lead. At that point, they might have been able to slow things down to their rhythm, control the pattern of play with their intricate passing triangles. As it was they were soon obliged to chase the game and were subsequently steamrollered by Madrid’s power and pace. In the second half in particular, Barcelona could not live with the athleticism, the speed, the directness of their opponents.
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Before the match, this was billed, as it generally is in modern El Clasico meetings, as a collision between Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, the two best players in the world. As it happened neither was central to the result. This was a game decided by what went on behind them, in midfield.
After Barcelona had taken an early lead, when Neymar beautifully converted Suárez’s excellent pass, Madrid simply upped the pace. They tore at Barcelona. Ronaldo, in his retro black boots, initially led the way, scoring the equaliser from the penalty spot. But it was Toni Kroos and the splendid Isco who became the most significant performers. Strong, quick and youthful, they gave Xavi Hernández and Andrés Iniesta not a moment to dwell on the ball. The once majestic Barcelona pair were knocked horribly from their stride, unable to dictate patterns as they used to, increasingly unable to provide the service to their gilded front three. As they were starved of the ball, so Neymar, Messi and Suárez sank into irrelevance.
It was in the third goal scored on the hour that the new balance of Spanish power was most marked. Barca had just won a corner. An exhausted, possibly not yet entirely fit, Xavi went over to take it. Before he could, he was replaced by the substitute Ivan Rakitic.
The Serb’s first touch was a poor one. He mis‑kicked his corner, sending the ball to the edge of the area, where Isco picked it up and galloped forward. He was tracked by a panting Iniesta, who, as Javier Mascherano came across to the touchline to bundle Isco out of play, flicked the ball out of reach of both of them. But Iniesta had entirely misjudged the pace of his opponent. His attempted intervention landed perfectly into the Madrid player’s path as he sped unimpeded goalwards. The Barcelona man could now only stand and watch as Isco’s next pass then found Ronaldo, who in turn fed James Rodríguez. The final ball to the excellent Karim Benzema was as delightful as the muscular Frenchman’s finish.
That was Madrid in a six-second flourish: hit and run of the most devastating kind, the entire forward line moving in a crushing wave of speed and strength. In a Barcelona midfield looking older by the minute, there was simply nothing to counter it. “It has been a long time since the Bernabéu has been able to chant olé olé during a game against Barcelona,” said Pepe, who scored Madrid’s second goal.
You suspect, if this game was indicative of the way the power has shifted, it will not be the last. For Luis Suárez, the lesson was a profound one.
