Barcelona deliver a Reality check

Messi becomes Ronaldo’s nightmare as he boosts Barca to a win.

MADRID: Jose Mourinho faced his first Clasico nightmare as champions Barcelona crushed his Real Madrid side 5-0 at Camp Nou to go two points clear of their bitter rivals at the top of the Spanish first division.

After Lionel Messi’s chip hit the post, Xavi and Pedro Rodriguez quickly put Barcelona into a two-goal lead after just 17 minutes and David Villa fired a brace set up by Messi again before Jeffren added a late fifth as Mourinho stomached his first loss in charge of Real.

“It was an important win by a big margin and it puts us top two points above Real in the table which is what we wanted,” said Villa. “However, there are lots of games left and we have to keep on winning.”

For Barcelona it was a fifth successive Clasico win over their rivals as coach Pep Guardiola maintained his 100 per cent record in the fixture and exacted revenge over Mourinho, whose Inter Milan side defeated Barcelona in last season’s Champions League semi-finals.

Real went into the game unbeaten and hoping for a first win at Camp Nou since 2007 but instead Mourinho was given one of the heaviest defeats of his career.

“One team played to their potential and one didn’t,” said Mourinho. “It was a defeat that we fully deserved but I don’t think you can say it reflected the difference between the two sides. The championship isn’t over, we have to show character, train hard and get back to winning.”

Published in The Express Tribune, December 1^st, 2010.