Barcelona Vs. Real Madrid: Blaugrana Win First Leg 3-2

Raul Albiol, Madrid’s replacement in defense for the injured Pepe, had an absolutely terrible first half filled with aggressive fouls. Incredibly, he did not see his first yellow card until the 51st minute, then toned down his aggression significantly. It was about that time that Barcelona started playing much better and looking much more comfortable with their attacking movement.

For the next 13 minutes, the match was wide open with half-chances on both sides, but Ramos managed to end any chance of his side taking a win back to Madrid. In the 69th minute, he hauled down Andres Iniesta in the box and the referee correctly pointed to the spot. Messi stepped up and buried the penalty, putting Barcelona ahead.

The bulk of the work was done by Iniesta, who drew the entire defense to him with some fancy footwork. It was tremendous play that he made look easy before sliding the ball through for Xavi, who was all alone on goal. From there Xavi just had to slide the ball into the net and Barcelona were two up.

Up 3-1, it’s tough to imagine Real Madrid mounting a comeback now, but it is just the first leg. They do get to head back to the Bernabeu in the second leg and try to make up the deficit, but if Iniesta and Xavi are combining like this it will be a tall task.

Follow live coverage in our Madrid vs. Barcelona, 2012 Spanish Super Cup StoryStream. For more on the Blaugrana, head over to FC Barcelona blog Barca Blaugranes. For more on Los Blancos, check out Real Madrid blog Managing Madrid.

Follow live coverage in our Madrid vs. Barcelona, 2012 Spanish Super Cup StoryStream. For more on the Blaugrana, head over to FC Barcelona blog Barca Blaugranes. For more on Los Blancos, check out Real Madrid blog Managing Madrid.

Maybe he was trying to retroactively earn it? Either way, Albiol remains on one yellow.

Follow live coverage in our Madrid vs. Barcelona, 2012 Spanish Super Cup StoryStream. For more on the Blaugrana, head over to FC Barcelona blog Barca Blaugranes. For more on Los Blancos, check out Real Madrid blog Managing Madrid.

Follow live coverage in our Madrid vs. Barcelona, 2012 Spanish Super Cup StoryStream. For more on the Blaugrana, head over to FC Barcelona blog Barca Blaugranes. For more on Los Blancos, check out Real Madrid blog Managing Madrid.

Kickoff is at 4:30 p.m. ET from Camp Nou. You can catch the game on either ESPN Deportes or ESPN3, and we’ll have live coverage right here.

We’ll have updates throughout the day and live coverage of the match in our Real Madrid vs. Barcelona, 2012 Spanish Super Cup StoryStream. For more on the Blaugrana, head over to FC Barcelona blog Barca Blaugranes. For more on Los Blancos, check out Real Madrid blog Managing Madrid. For more from around the world of football, follow @SBNationSoccer on twitter.

“I think it’s a game that will have little effect [on the season],” said Mourinho. “If I could choose, I’d choose what happened last year where we lost the Super Cup and won the league. If losing is a motivation for winning the league, I’d sign off on it now.”

So Mourinho doesn’t think the Super Cup is of grave importance. That is probably because it isn’t.

Now you might think I’m being sarcastic and somehow giving the Clasico a backhanded snarky swipe, but I’m not. I love these games, even the ones that are basically glorified friendlies like the Spanish Super Cup. Much like when the US and Mexico play, there’s simply not such thing as a friendly when Los Blancos and the Blaugrana are involved. These are high quality Texas Death Matches that would make Cactus Jack and Terry Funk proud. Well, maybe Spanish Death Matches.

That’s why I love El Clasico and that’s why try as you might to pretend you don’t care, you’ll be watching ... or at the very least keeping an eye on the result.

With the Euros negating the recovery of Barcelona’s exhausted players, there is every reason to think Mourinho’s plan will succeed again. The next phase of his plan must be to build an effective first XI as well. Numbers can prevail in the league, but they are less likely to do so in European competition, where great teams must be defeated face-to-face. A good squad will have an impact in keeping players fresher in the later stages and providing options for specific tactical plans, but if El Clasico were to take place in the Champions League semi-finals, Barcelona would be clear favourites for good reason: they are still simply a better team.

We’ll have updates throughout the day and live coverage of the match in our Real Madrid vs. Barcelona, 2012 Spanish Super Cup StoryStream. For more on the Blaugrana, head over to FC Barcelona blog Barca Blaugranes. For more on Los Blancos, check out Real Madrid blog Managing Madrid.

Game Date/Time: Thursday, 4:30 p.m. ET, 10:30 p.m. local

Venue: Camp Nou, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

With the return leg still to come next Wednesday at the Santiago Bernabeu, Mourinho will probably set up a defensive team and attempt to nick an away goal on the counter. Barcelona are favorites to win the first leg, but if their win comes by one goal with Real Madrid grabbing an away goal, that will suit Los Blancos just fine and will give them a great chance to overturn the result at home.

The first leg of the Spanish Super Cup kicks off at 4:30 p.m. ET, 10:30 p.m. local time on Thursday from Camp Nou in Barcelona.