Real laments penalty decision as Barça wins clásico

Barcelona was victorious in the first clásico of the season on Saturday night, running out 2-1 winners in a hard-fought and at times attractive match, which, as is always the case when Real Madrid meets its eternal rival, was marred by controversy.

Neymar opened the scoring for the home side via a shot that clipped a defender en route to Diego López’s far post, giving the Real goalkeeper little chance. Alexis Sánchez doubled Barça’s lead in the second half with a wonderful lob and Jesé reduced the deficit late on after playing in by Cristiano Ronaldo. However, the penalty that never was will be the talking point: with Real trailing 1-0, Javier Mascherano bundled Ronaldo to the turf inside the area in what seemed a clear-cut infraction that should have resulted in a spot-kick.

Referee Alberto Undiano Mallenco surprised even Mascherano, who was busy conducting the arms-raised plea of the soon-to-be-carded before the Portuguese had even hit the ground, by awarding nothing. Real’s sense of grievance was doubled by the failure of the linesman to spot a clear handball by Adriano in a first-half goalmouth scramble.

“There were two clear penalties and although I don't like to try and justify defeats by talking about referees, there are some things you cannot fight against,” noted Real coach Carlo Ancelotti.

Ronaldo himself incurred a yellow after Barcelona’s second goal for protesting in no uncertain terms against Mallenco’s decision, but the game had been won on the tactics board some time before that. Ancelotti attempted two surprises in his line-up, neither of which worked. Dropping Karim Benzema for Gareth Bale, the Italian stated that he wanted the Welshman to pressure Sergio Busquets and break up Barcelona’s ability to pay the ball out of defense. But while the France striker may not be breaking any goal scoring records his work rate has improved this season and handing Bale the line-leading role in such an important clash was an unnecessary gamble.

Indeed, Benzema was far more of a threat when introduced in the second half, linking up well with his teammates and rattling Víctor Valdés’ crossbar with a rasping drive. Bale, on the other hand, had singularly failed to create any understanding with Ronaldo or the hyperactive Ángel di María. The question marks over the logic of his signing keep growing bigger.

Real’s first chance came at the end of the first half from Sami Khedira, who fired a low shot into the leg of Valdés, but even with Leo Messi not firing on all of his particular cylinders the result rarely seemed in doubt. Ancelotti’s decision to field Sergio Ramos in a holding midfield role did free up Khedira to maraud forward but also sent Barcelona a message it hadn’t seen since Pepe was used in the same position by José Mourinho: that Real doesn’t consider itself Barça’s equal going toe-to-toe. It was no coincidence that the visitor improved when Bale and Ramos had left the pitch – the latter substituted before he got himself sent off.

Cesc Fàbregas also felt he should have been awarded a penalty for a foul by Pepe but by and large his side won without recourse to complaints against officialdom. As Busquets noted after the game: “Every time they lose they resort to the easy excuse of blaming the referee, but they can't complain and much less so this season.”