So it's a night of glory and satisfaction for the Liga leaders. Barcelona earned a 2-1 Clasico win over Real Madrid and extended their lead atop the Liga table to four points. But they have a problem; whether it's temporary or whether it allows Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti to overtake them remains to be seen.
Despite the truth that Madrid could easily have been significantly ahead by the break (I think it's remarkable that Cristiano Ronaldo was called offside for Gareth Bale's otherwise legitimate goal), Barcelona were running things long before the end. They were breaking forward at will and splitting the lines of white in a manner that should have left them scoring two or three more.
But, just as against City, they didn't. Unless they cure this, unless there's a sharper edge against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League quarterfinals and in remaining big Liga matches, Barcelona will be attractive, sometimes awesome, but vulnerable.
Champions bury chances.
What of Madrid? Patently, this game came just about a week or 10 days too early for them. Compare this performance to that of the defeat at Athletic Bilbao on March 7 or the horrific embarrassment at home to Schalke on March 10.
They were tough-minded, aggressive and clever in patches, and Ronaldo scored a simply wonderful goal. That's Madrid at their best, one end of the pitch to the other with clever movement, speed, passing with risk involved and then a genius assist for a genius to score.
Note that Madrid's goal came, of course, from Neymar missing a sitter at the other end. Miss often enough and you'll be punished. Always. It's an eternal rule.
But Madrid flagged. By the three-quarter mark they were fighting on like a great champion keeps swinging even though he knows he's beaten both on points, technique and stamina.
If, and I hope not, this proves to be Iker Casillas' last Clasico, the thing I'll be happy about is that he produced a trademark block when Jordi Alba, sent through by a divine Lionel Messi pass, seemed sure to score and make the three points safe and kill off Madrid's head-to-head advantage -- Madrid lead in that department, the tiebreaker should they finish the season level on points with Barcelona. If Madrid win this title by clawing back the four-point deficit and win it on the head-to-head, then it'll be Iker's title.
What a send-off that would be.
But enough will be said about the superstars, including goal-scorers Ronaldo and Luis Suarez, that it befits this Clasico to also mention two names who won't make the headlines: Juan Carlos Unzue and Andoni Zubizarreta.
Unzue is Barcelona's assistant coach. Zubizarreta the director of football, who was sacked at the height of the club's crisis in January.
First Unzue.
He and Barcelona manager Luis Enrique go together like strawberries and cream. Luis Enrique sets the tactics, develops the philosophy, manages the egos. Unzue is the details man.
His role is to enforce a plan: discipline at defensive set pieces, positioning, strategy about how many Barcelona players even come back into the box. For a long time, possibly since Rafa Marquez was nodding in at the near and back posts, Barcelona haven't scored sufficiently from set pieces -- at least those that aren't launched home by Messi, Xavi or Neymar. Unzue came on board this season to help change that.
He'll also come up with ingenious ideas about how to unsettle opponents when Barca are taking corners and free kicks. Twice in the previous three games Unzue's cleverness, and the players' delight in learning new tricks from him, has paid superb dividends.
Against Rayo Vallecano at home, Gerard Pique scored from a Jordi Alba header that bounced back off the woodwork. Alba was positioned just to the right of the penalty spot when he connected with the corner.
A week later, Lionel Messi scored with a header from that precise spot again, this time with Pique in almost exactly the same position but now holding off two Eibar defenders.
Then came the Clasico.
In October, Jeremy Mathieu was a symbol of Barcelona being at sixes and sevens -- and nearly conceding one of those numbers. He didn't know until match day that he was to be deployed at left-back.
The Frenchman played nervously and epitomised Barcelona's inability to play with ice in their veins. Despite nearly scoring with a fierce drive, Mathieu looked unsure of his role. To defend? To jockey? To act like a wing-back?
Then, after that Clasico defeat, the Frenchman favoured the kind of free speech for which modern football is not known, and for which we should be thankful. He said he felt underprepared and it was a surprise to him that his new boss hadn't told him sooner what the idea was.
After this Sunday's Clasico, the stain of that performance is gone. Mathieu came good.
You could have been forgiven for thinking he might not play. Sergio Busquets had recovered well enough to return to action, albeit ahead of schedule. Luis Enrique adores his midfield gatekeeper, and the temptation to drop Mathieu, play Busquets and use Javier Mascherano at centre-back next to Pique must have been just enormous.
Luis Enrique chose against it and got the call just right.
Mathieu scored a couple against Madrid last season for Valencia, and it was clear that Unzue thought he could do it again. Watch the free kick from which the defender scores. Messi knows precisely who he's aiming for, and, I swear, Mathieu knows he's going to score a millisecond before he even makes contact.
All this week, there's been a strange phenomenon at Barcelona's Ciudad Deportiva training centre. Training scheduled for 11 a.m. had started 30 to 45 minutes late. This is rare for Luis Enrique, who lives by prompt timekeeping. But the delays had all been about tactical video analysis, attacking and defending.
Mathieu knew his timing, knew where Madrid were weak and knew he was going to glance the ball past Iker Casillas.
Corners used to be this squad's Achilles heel. But they stuck in, and, honestly, it never felt like Barcelona would be vulnerable. It's a testament to the time Unzue and Luis Enrique put into tactical analysis and defending all week.
Unzue has them organised, he has them treating strategy like an art form. He has their attention and their involvement.
Bravo to him. "Thank you" from Claudio Bravo, too, I'll bet. The goalkeeper at Barcelona is no longer the last man on the ramparts of the Alamo when facing an opposition dead-ball situation.
So, chapeau to Unzue.
And I think it's time to be honorable and generous to Zubizarreta, too.
When he was fired, I thought that while President Josep Maria Bartomeu was making a deeply self-serving decision, the former Barcelona keeper had it coming. He was culpable of sins of omission, not just commission.
Barcelona were ill-prepared to replace manager Tito Vilanova and they failed to land a centre-back of suitable calibre this season. His role in the total botch-up of Neymar's transfer may yet be a multimillion-euro foul-up for him and all those involved. He stood up to then-President Sandro Rosell frequently. He sanctioned the purchases of Thomas Vermaelen during last summer's transfer window despite medical counsel informing him the Belgian would not be fit, and Douglas, who never had the level to play for Barcelona and whose price was scandalous.
Yet this week, Zubizarreta's men have stood tall.
It was Ivan Rakitic who lobbed the ball over Joe Hart for the winner against Manchester City in the Champions League. It was Bravo who produced a simply wonderful save to ensure his first ever win over Real Madrid, after 10 tries and 34 goals conceded. Zubizarreta signed them both.
When Karim Benzema fiercely shot three quarters of the way through Sunday's game, it took a vicious deflection off Pique and should probably have beaten the Chilean. Not tonight, Josephine. His dive and fingertip save must have had Zubizarreta leaping off his sofa in Barcelona's Eixample district.
Mathieu was one of his signings, as well. What a sweet feeling it must have been for the Basque, who was a true legend at the Camp Nou as a player but departed, ingloriously, just a few weeks ago. Sacked, without a fond farewell. But his fingerprints are on this win.
And, one cautionary note for Cules celebrating the title or Madridistas lost in mourning and looking for someone to blame. Last season, this fixture was on Match 29 rather than Match 22. Barcelona scored four goals, posted a famous away win and were poised one point off the top of the league.
They then dropped nine points in nine games before the end of the season. Within three weeks of that Clasico, they'd lost the Champions League quarterfinal to Atletico Madrid and the Copa del Rey final to Madrid.
This season they look tougher, surer, better coached, fitter. But strange things happen. You can bet Luis Enrique and his clever consigliere Unzue will be hammering home that point to their troops all week.
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