Real Madrid vs. Barcelona: Raphael Varane is Los Blancos’ hero in El Clasico

Real Madrid will go to Camp Nou having merely drawn at home and given up an away goal, which is hardly an ideal situation. But given the way they started the second half against Barcelona on Wednesday and the players that they were without, they’ll be pleased to still be very much in their Copa del Rey semifinal tie after a 1-1 draw.

Chances continued to fall for both sides as the second half wore on, with both sets of defenders preventing what would have been easy goals for the attacking players against opponents of lesser quality. Varane did brilliantly to pick a ball off Fabregas in the 56th minute when the Barcelona man should have score, and Pique did the same to Ronaldo in the 66th minute following a cross by Mesut Özil.

Update: Real Madrid 1-1 Barcelona, Final Score

Varane might as well have been flying he was so high off the ground. It was a stunning moment of athleticism and a deserved goal for both Madrid and Varane who was played given an absolutely outstanding performance on the day.

Ronaldo’s eyes were as big as saucers as he raced on to the ball and the giant empty net in front of him as José Manuel Pinto couldn’t get back across the face of goal fast enough. Gerard Piqué came the rescue for Barca, completely selling out his body to make a desperation sliding tackle that pushed the ball away from Ronaldo at the last second and prevented what was surely a goal for Madrid.

In the 72nd minute Pedro made an 80-yard run and received a brilliant long ball from Andres Iniesta as he raced behind the Madrid defense. Pedro did everything right as Diego López stayed pinned to his line for some reason, rather than coming out to challenge him. In the end, Pedro’s shot let him down as he sent the ball across the face of goal and wide of the far post. It was if he didn’t know what to do when López didn’t come off his line.

Cesc Fàbregas nearly scored a second after collecting a pass on a counter attack in the 55th minute. Just when it looked like Cesc would be free in on Diego López yet again, 19-year-old defender Raphaël Varane came rocketing up alongside Cesc and took the ball off his foot with a perfectly time and brilliantly executed tackle. Just a stunning play by the young French defender.

Madrid remains the better side but Barca have the goal and Madrid’s finishing is really letting them down.

Madrid really have been the better side overall through the first half and at the start of th second half, so giving up a goal like that will sting. It also won’t help that this is a home-and-home tie and away goals count as a tiebreaker after 180 minutes. An away goal for Barca who return home for the second leg could be huge.

For more on El Clasico, head over to Real Madrid blog Managing Madrid and FC Barcelona blog Barca Blaugranes.

In the 24th minute Raphaël Varane saved Madrid’s bacon after a horrendous turnover by Carvalho in the Madrid box. Xavi’s shot beat Diego Lopez but Varane was in the right spot and the right time and cleared the ball off the line.

Madrid struck back in the 27th minute as Karim Benzema got in behind the Barcelona defense. A poor first touch cost the French striker as he popped the initial ball up and volleyed his shot in the side netting.

For more on El Clasico, head over to Real Madrid blog Managing Madrid and FC Barcelona blog Barca Blaugranes.

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Barca finally started to sit on the ball around the 17th minute, passing it around in the style we’ve all become accustomed to. Madrid are playing very compact formation early with a high defensive line and so far it’s worked alright. Daring Barca to test a high line though seems like asking for trouble though in the long run.

Barca should have scored in the 24th minute when Carvalho turned the ball over in his own box. Xavi’s shot beat Lopez but Raphaël Varane was the man of the moment, clearing the ball off the line.

Kickoff is at 9 p.m. local time, 3 p.m. ET from the Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid, Spain. You can catch the game on Sky Sports 2 in the U.K., beIN Sport in the U.S. and on Canal+ 1 in Spain.

For more on El Clasico, head over to Real Madrid blog Managing Madrid and FC Barcelona blog Barca Blaugranes.

Don’t be surprised if Barcelona go to a back three when they lose possession, with Busquets dropping back in between the two central defenders. Puyol is excellent at getting outside to close down the threat from the opposing left winger in this situation, while still remaining aware of his responsibilities in the center. The Barcelona defense will still get stretched if Puyol comes out too wide, however, so Alves will need to remain disciplined on the right.

Madrid’s best chances to score are likely to come from counters that feature Ronaldo stretching out the Barcelona back line, then finding his center forward with a square ball. Ronaldo is also good at timing his diagonal runs between two defenders to get on the end of through balls by Özil, who is a genius at spotting that run and executing the pass. Ronaldo’s ability to catch the defense out of position and act quickly to exploit it will be the difference for Madrid going forward on Wednesday.

Messi will give the Madrid central defenders plenty to think about on Wednesday, but they should simply be the team’s last line of defense, not their primary defense against Messi. Madrid’s success or lack thereof is likely to depend on how effective Khedira is at shutting down simple passing lanes to Messi, forcing Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez to pass sideways. He’ll also need to make interceptions and start counters. If he’s not shutting off passing lanes to Barcelona and starting counters for Madrid, the Clasico could be a walk in the park for the Blaugrana.

For more on El Clasico, head over to Real Madrid blog Managing Madrid and FC Barcelona blog Barca Blaugranes.

Real Madrid injuries and suspensions

Barcelona injuries and suspensions

The fact it’s Manchester United makes it an even trickier task. Easily the most flawed of Europe’s top teams, United are nonetheless a supremely dangerous opposition. They’ve been the polar opposite of how Alex Ferguson usually deploys them in Europe -- a cavalier style enforced by their own shortcomings, ensuring plenty of goals in both nets. Oddly, it’s given them what is, so far, their best season in a very long time in big games. They have emerged from away games at Chelsea, Manchester City, and Liverpool with victories, and racked up a remarkable points total despite rarely looking at their best.

In recent years, particularly last season when Barcelona were a model of inconsistency, the Clasico has appeared more of an inconvenience than an opportunity for Real Madrid. Their best hope of prevailing over Barcelona always seemed to be by being better at breaking down the other teams in La Liga rather than going toe-to-toe with them, where they would invariably suffer a setback. This season, when it should represent a risk-free opportunity to regain some glory, it’s yet another unwanted obstacle.

Maybe they have played too much, maybe people just like to complain, whatever the reason there’s no doubt that El Clásicos create a stir in the soccer world and draws mixed reactions. So in the name of science, or just a potentially entertaining story, I’ve reached out to the SB Nation soccer writers and to our readers social media to gauge people’s feelings about this latest event.

I expected to get a mixed bag but I’d be lying if I said I expected to get a majority of negative responses. Apparently people are thrilled about another El Clásico, or at least the results of this highly unscientific survey point that direction.

On top of everything else Madrid are still dealing with a report in MARCA that claimed teams captains Casillas and Ramos had threatened to leave unless Mourinho was dismissed. Team president was forced to call a rare press conference to address the story in which he accused the paper of lying.

Now we wait for Wednesday to see if all these injuries, suspensions and distractions allow Barcelona to get a positive result in the first leg against their rivals.