Barcelona are well placed to reach the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey after they beat old rivals Real Madrid 2-1 on Wednesday night.
Once again Jose Mourinho changed his system playing Barcelona. It seems that Mourinho has one system for Barcelona and one for everyone else in Europe. The surprise this time was that both Altintop and Carvalho were included in the starting XI.
Real Madrid got off to a great start and played with confidence ad it was no surprise when they went ahead, although the goalscorer, Cristiano Ronaldo, was a surprise given his poor scoring record against Barca.
The speed of Ronaldo and Benzema caused Barca all sorts of problems, and the two strikers combined for Madrid’s goal after only 11 minutes.
Barca were hit with a perfect counter attack which Benzema led the charge through midfield and fed the run of Ronaldo with a through ball. The Portuguese’s stepover baffled Gerard Pique long enough for him to drill a low finish through the legs of Jose Pinto to put the Whites one up.
Mourinho’s side seemed content to sit back and hit Barcelona on the break, the downside of that tactic is that it invites pressure from Barcelona and four minutes into the second half, Barca finally broke down the Real Madrid defense, and was a poor goal to concede.
From a Barcelona corner Pepe completely lost his concentration and could only watch as Puyol stooped to beat Casillas with a diving header.
Real should have gone back in front nine minutes later when Altintop served a great cross but Benzema could not hit the target with Pinto beaten.
Mourinho seemed happy to had back to Barcelona at 1-1 as he brought on Ozil and Callejon for Higuain and Lass looking for a reaction, more possession and a deeper attack.
But those plans backfired when with 15 minutes to go, Messi who lifted a pass over for Abidal to score only his second ever Barca goal after he chested the ball down and slid a finish past Casillas.