SOCCER:PEP GUARDIOLA had suggested the inflammatory mind games would mean little once the teams took to the pitch, though the simmering antipathy shared by those out on the turf transformed this into a spiteful snarl of a match.
Jose Mourinho’s tactics had been designed to frustrate and infuriate, granting Barca possession deep, soaking up pressure before springing on the counter.
This was supposed to be a throwback to Internazionale’s triumph in last year’s semi-final, awkward and disjointed, and the Catalan side’s hackles were duly raised. The melee on the half-time whistle reflected the ugly contest it had become.
Barca needed to find a way of imposing their slick play on the occasion, yet Real’s harrying never waned until Pepe’s red card tipped the balance. Then Mourinho was dismissed, ending up sitting in the stands and slipping notes to his bench as the fouls, play-acting and bickering threatened to wreck the evening, before Messi’s 51st and 52nd goals of the season did exactly that to Real’s.
Guardiola merely braved the catcalls and enjoyed the moment.
Mourinho had asked the energetic Pepe and Lassana Diarra to loiter and snap at Lionel Messi whenever the Argentine was on the ball.
That served to clog up the middle, draining the contest of rhythm and sapping the visitors’ impetus, with the Real pair constantly pressurising the ball whenever it fell within his zone of influence.
Yet Messi is a force of nature. When he could wriggle into space, he was the game’s only real entertainer-in-waiting.
He dropped deep willingly, hoping to spring from the clutter, and conjured staggering passes in inter-plays with Xavi and David Villa to unnerve Real.
With one trademark dart, he drew a foul from Sergio Ramos that ruled him out of the second leg.
His task was potentially made easier by Pepe’s harsh dismissal. That offered more space in which to prompt panic, and his dart across Ramos to convert Ibrahim Afellay’s cross, then jinking run through Real’s backline, took the breath: brief eruptions of football amid the maelstrom.
Cristiano Ronaldo was initially employed as a lone striker, though, having threatened one early tantrum after the supply line stalled and Barca’s back five pinged passes contentedly among themselves, Ronaldo was reminded by his manager that this was an occasion to be selfless.
Mourinho dragged him out wide early on in the hope that he could charge at Carlos Puyol, who was forced to fill in at left-back by Barca’s current lack of defensive options.
It was to the gnarled veteran’s credit that he had been rarely exposed, though Emmanuel Adebayor’s introduction at half-time offered Ronaldo the chance to torment him more regularly.
There were flashes thereafter of discomfort for the converted centre-back. But for a makeshift defence to have emerged unscathed from the Bernabeu still represented a triumph for Pep Guardiola’s side who now can, barring a disaster, look forward to a probable Champions League showdown with Manchester United.
