Barcelona Vs. Real Madrid, 2012 El Clasico: Hosts Being Kept Quiet

Barcelona are trying to recover from their one goal deficit against Real Madrid, but they're really not looking as snappy as usual. Real Madrid are having a pretty easy time of things whenever Lionel Messi isn't on the ball - the rest of the home side are busy taking poor touches or giving the ball away for no apparent reason. We're most of the way through the first half now, and we haven't seen anything like the Catalans at their very best.

Considering it's crunch time in terms of the title race, you'd have thought that Pep Guardiola's side would be a little bit more up for this one. Their opponents certainly are, and it's no easy feat to keep even an off-colour Barcelona side this quiet for forty minutes. Sure, Iker Casillas has been called into action twice, but you could probably say that the visitors have been the better side so far. That's pretty weird.