How Close Are Real Madrid To You?

Putting all rivalries aside, may i get some of your personal input, on how good you think real madrid is atm?

How Big of a danger do you think they are?

In my opinion they have improved significantly in many areas since last year, albeit still lacking a mental caliber, powerful enough to finally get a "definitive" result against barcelona.

They are potentially leaders in la liga by 3 points, just went through a 15 match winning streak, have a great squad with good depth, and just had one of the "greatest" group stages of all time in terms of results in the champions league.

I personally think that they are the closest team yet to finally come toe to toe with barca in their own way, even though they are not a finished product.

They can improve in many ways, as theyre team improves so will their chances of succeeding at what they do best..

Judging from the last 3 games you have had with them, i can tell that they lack
1.Mental Edge
2.Experience

And as we have seen through the year, real madrid have been hit with bad luck at times against barcelona, but in my opinion that's a result of not being strong enough to be a team that wont get shaken by bad luck..(which i think is understandable)

Judging from the last El Classico, with a bit better finishing and luck they could have had even a win, albeit neither your nor they played at their "highest potential" imo.

If anything, i can say that its little things that decide these matches now, the two biggest factors being the ones i mentioned..

so.. what do you think of them?

No I dont think they are close and that was borne out by the Clasico.
In the second half once we got our shape right normal service resumed and they were back to chasing the shadows of our players.
But the league is going to be very tight.I think both teams have equal chance to win the league.

One on one Barca are still comfortably the better team.

alexjanosik wrote:No I dont think they are close and that was borne out by the Clasico.
In the second half once we got our shape right normal service resumed and they were back to chasing the shadows of our players.
But the league is going to be very tight.I think both teams have equal chance to win the league.

One on one Barca are still comfortably the better team.

That was in large due to the fact that xavi stunned them with a fluky goal. They fought back, missed, only got more depressed and in the end fell apart.

I agree that barcelona is still better, and tactically as pointed out by zonal marking they were superior as well, but what if ronaldo passed to di maria in the first half, and xavi never scored his goal? things would have been very different.

I think youre rushing past many factors, when you point at the game after xavi's goal.

You're equating winning a game with being better though. If Barcelona played Madrid 10 times under those conditions I'm confident they would have won 7-8 of them. That being said Madrid, and their unparalleled depth, is always a challenge in the league and they are supermotivated this year.

Now making reflection on the players...

I think its amazing real madrid get as many shots at goal as they do, even though their creative players like ozil,ronaldo,and di maria did very little to impress me.

They do have several draw backs in their attack. Real madrid from what i have seen have been repeatedly shut down, multiple times in attack, ronaldo and di maria doing the job for them selves at times, ( di maria is a good worker, but inconsistent) and ozil getting annihilated by barca..specially by guys like busquets and thus making the whole game plan from madrid broken in the last el classico.

Confusing.. theyre so broken at times,yet so many winning opportunities imo.

Problem for them is that they are more like scavengers instead of hunters, they don't have as much control as they'd should, and make too many mistakes, yet they make it so close at times...

BarrileteCosmico wrote:You're equating winning a game with being better though. If Barcelona played Madrid 10 times under those conditions I'm confident they would have won 7-8 of them. That being said Madrid, and their unparalleled depth, is always a challenge in the league and they are supermotivated this year.

I am not equating winning one game to being better.

My question is how close to you (best team in the world) are real madrid, and then i made a look at different factors along the run thus far this season, and the two factors that i mentioned imo are very definite advantages for barcelona.

like i said before madrid are like scavengers atm, they dont have the advantage and i agree that barcelona would win the majority.. but how close is it really? look at the games and tell me your opinion on what you see when 1v1, what are they lacking in your opinion?

Obviously the overall question, is a definition of progress, question is, how much do you think they have progressed?

Il Capitano wrote:

alexjanosik wrote:No I dont think they are close and that was borne out by the Clasico.
In the second half once we got our shape right normal service resumed and they were back to chasing the shadows of our players.
But the league is going to be very tight.I think both teams have equal chance to win the league.

One on one Barca are still comfortably the better team.

That was in large due to the fact that xavi stunned them with a fluky goal. They fought back, missed, only got more depressed and in the end fell apart.

I agree that barcelona is still better, and tactically as pointed out by zonal marking they were superior as well, but what if ronaldo passed to di maria in the first half, and xavi never scored his goal? things would have been very different.

I think youre rushing past many factors, when you point at the game after xavi's goal.

If we use the luck angle,I could argue that their first goal was even more lucky than the Xavi goal.
Point is I dont think they can beat us in an open game.If we play 10 times we would win 8-9 times in an open game.
Their only option is to park the bus and hope for a goal on the break.

Regarding tactics, i think that something that has hurt mourinho the most has been the inability to be able to adapt to situations in which he has no other option but to "retreat", or go into safe mode. Or in better terms perhaps, a lack of a plan B.

Three games i can clearly see this...

Real Madrid Vs Barcelona 0-2 -Pepe Sending Off (was going to be hard to fix in any case.

Barcelona Vs Real Madrid 5-0

Real Madrid 3-1 (mistake with playing ozil since start, could have lessened the degree of this had his team been "killer")

In the first season with real madrid, apart from the 5-0 defeat, i think it was close.

Real madrid were more defensive, and had to accommodate to what they had in their hands.

1-0
1-1
0-0 (What would have been imo if pepe had not been sent off, but lets go past that)
1-1

They had to scavenge their opportunities, and if everything turned out well then they would win. Obviously they had to do everything perfect because they had a greater degree of faliure than a team with as much resources and experience of that of barcelona has.

Second season, mourinho works on the glimpses that made madrid score the goals they did score against barca in 2010-2011.
Thus the games are much more open, thus more goals, and seemingly tighter affairs.

But of course, the lack of killer instinct, has prohibited real madrid twice now to possibly score victories at the bernabeu against barcelona in 2011-2012.

My point? that i want to see how you perceive things..

Each team is out to do their stuff, the team with less errors wins.

Mourinho has improved his team in terms of results in two ways (seemingly thus far)

1. His team ( as seen in the league) is much more stronger, thus if they win tommorow they will be in the lead albeit losing against their direct rivals.

They are dominating in numbers, europe and spain, and in the end it will all come down to who makes less mistakes.

It did last season, and it will this season.

That is why i think they are close.

They lack the experience,mentality, and instinct that would assure anyone of a win.. and their repeated failure is still working as a barrier.

if they pass the barrier though, they will win trophies.

I value your input, but if anything has shown in 11-12 is that they have gone from being a stoke city as some might put it, to a galiant fighter, which lacks the finishing touch.

Be a bit more open, they arent parking the bus, they actually fight ("positively"), and thus get more opportunities. Problem is they aren't putting it in.

At this point i thought it would be obvious that taking advantages of the sitauation is whats key.

Sorry if the following prediction offends anyone but lets look at things...

Red represents what had happened if "luck" had been on madrid's side.
1-0
1-1
0-0
1-1
3-2 ( Should have been win, but again lack of goals..)
2-3
2-2/Maybe Win

Barcelona would win one of last 7 matches...

Small factors have made that 3 wins in 7 matches.

Barca Record 3/3/1 i Believe in 2011
Madrid Record 1/3/3

Small factors.

Agains some might find it infentile to use luck as a factor, but call it inexperience if you want as well.Anyways if someone uses luck as main reason then it means theres not much else to point at as reason.If so point out considerable factors that have led to madrid's failiure in taking lead of record...other than faliure of scoring.

Huge/Big/Considerable Gap is not realistic.

Nor is saying barca would win 7/10 because they havent.

Il Capitano wrote:I value your input, but if anything has shown in 11-12 is that they have gone from being a stoke city as some might put it, to a galiant fighter, which lacks the finishing touch.

Be a bit more open, they arent parking the bus, they actually fight ("positively"), and thus get more opportunities. Problem is they aren't putting it in.

At this point i thought it would be obvious that taking advantages of the sitauation is whats key.

Can you elaborate on what you mean by taking advantage of the situation.
To me its simple.As dani put it we have the 3 best players on the pitch without a shadow of a doubt.
Madrid dont have a midfield that comes even remotely close to ours.
So if they play us in an open game they will lose majority of the time.
Only option for them is to park the bus and counter.

alexjanosik wrote:

Il Capitano wrote:I value your input, but if anything has shown in 11-12 is that they have gone from being a stoke city as some might put it, to a galiant fighter, which lacks the finishing touch.

Be a bit more open, they arent parking the bus, they actually fight ("positively"), and thus get more opportunities. Problem is they aren't putting it in.

At this point i thought it would be obvious that taking advantages of the sitauation is whats key.

Can you elaborate on what you mean by taking advantage of the situation.
To me its simple.As dani put it we have the 3 best players on the pitch without a shadow of a doubt.
Madrid dont have a midfield that comes even remotely close to ours.
So if they play us in an open game they will lose majority of the time.
Only option for them is to park the bus and counter.

Score the goals when you can.

Madrid missed so many opportunities in super cup.. Against a weakened barca... that alone shows the insecurity of the madrid team when it comes to that.

if madrid dont take their chances, barca will and thats what happened when xavi and fabregas put their two goals, but ronaldo didnt.

Look in copa del rey, things were so close..

Football is a game of TRANSITIONS. The momentum in a game turns, and if one takes lead at the right moment, or misses that same lead, the other team will either benefit or belittle it self, depending on what they do.


Green: Thats not true, it again relates to taking ur opportunities. My way of saying its closer than some might think, or make them selves think

Blue: 8-5 in 11-12 Lead for barca says other wise. No park the bus team will get so many shots or goals against barca.Repeating the park the bus thing is futile at this point.

1- LUCK?
Real Madrid had the best possible scenario in the first 20 seconds, a gift from Valdes [ last time he did a similiar mistake, was 3 years ago] this goal gave u a 1-0 lead in the first 1 minutes, u were playing at home "bernabeu", already 3pts lead (with 1 match in hand), a Barca lose means they could be 9pts behind Real Madrid in the League.. Do u want "Luck" more than this?

2- Did Real Madrid improve, OFF-COURSE they did, & they should improve... But, you're ignoring that Fact that Barca are also imporving every season, we have more depth now, Barca players mastering the system more & more [total football]..

3- We played most parts of elclasico using the "3-4-3" system, which Barca are still adapting on, Barca played a very gd game "Yes", but they weren't at Top of their game..

IMO, FCBarcelona are comfortably ahead of Real Madrid, If we play 10 times we would win 7-8 times in an open game. But this doesn't mean we will win the League, i think its still 50/50, Real Madrid most probably will win today & have a 3pts lead, they can still make another 15 consecutive wins, than come to camp nou & lose again.. so if they can make a lead by more than 3pts on Barca before the 2nd elclasico in camp nou, they will win the league.

But, in the Champions League its a different story, if we meet again, i'am confident that Barca will win.

"Luck? I was on the bench and I saw a very different match, I saw a very superior Barca,"

Substitute bench to sitting at home and what Mascherano said is my answer.

The lesgue is won with consistency, 1 v 1 games are about quality.

Madrid are a match for us in terms of consistency so far, but in terms of quality, we are superior.

dude too long to read all. But luck can win you maybe one game. How many games are we talking about here?

And RM first goal, was it a luck? Why don'y you consider that a LUCK. It sounds like RM have no luck at all. This is disgusting. By repeating this LUCK bullshit it sounds as Barca did nothing and we are winning on pure luck and ref conspiracy.

Seriously, if i see one more LUCK argument here in this (Barca) section i am gonna kill someone.

We beat the shit of Mandril for years, and we did and will do that cuz we are SUPERIOR. Luck has nothing to do with it.

i guess 3 barca fans here, really didnt read anything.

No i read your first post. But, the LUCK thing is mentioned soooooo much that it is making me sick. Every-time we rape RM there is something there, luck, referees, foul play...

It is getting ridiculous and pathetic.

RM are the only team (for now) who can do us real damage. They can win la liga. Are they better with us head-to-head? NO. A lot of RM fans reference the supercup game - can't you see? That was embarrassing for RM, even though they played a bit better, they played against 50% fit team, and lost. Simply put: WE ARE SUPERIOR.

If you or anyone else wants to push the LUCK thing go to general section.

eelir wrote:No i read your first post. But, the LUCK thing is mentioned soooooo much that it is making me sick. Every-time we rape RM there is something there, luck, referees, foul play...

It is getting ridiculous and pathetic.

RM are the only team (for now) who can do us real damage. They can win la liga. Are they better with us head-to-head? NO. A lot of RM fans reference the supercup game - can't you see? That was embarrassing for RM, even though they played a bit better, they played against 50% fit team, and lost. Simply put: WE ARE SUPERIOR.

If you or anyone else wants to push the LUCK thing go to general section.

Im not spreading luck in here like maple syrup on pancakes.

If you decide to only talk about your apparent frustration when looking at factors, then that makes you look a bit delusional, because i mentioned so many more, REAL things by the way, that i expected better, responses from anyone, instead of people angry with the word luck.

You guys are either misunderstanding or putting the blindfold on, and for that i leave.

I think it's hilarious that you keep using words and phrases like luck, killer instinct, experience, missing chances, converting opportunities etc etc.

And you just ignored the fact that Madrid have beaten Barca once in Mourinho's 8 try's with Madrid. That's not luck.

You also act like Barca convert every single opportunity they create and it's just Madrid that misses chances or have goal scoring opportunities and don't convert them.

BOTH TEAMS miss chances. If any team in the world converted there chances better they would be a great side, that's kind of the whole point of the game FFS.

It's just shameful you keep using the word "luck" as we beat you over and over again and you act as if it's some kind of lucky miracle it keeps happening and it's not a trend.

You have even created fake score lines for if we weren't "lucky" or you converted chances, that is pretty pathetic.

Also, here is a simple exercise for you to do since it seems you have so much time on your hands judging from the length and frequency of your posts. Line the two teams up and tell me who has better players, it's pretty simple. Barca have 3 of the top 5 players in the world and Madrid can buy who ever they want and get whatever coach they wan't and that will not change. Not to mention 3 of our 4 defenders are better then yours with Pique, Puyol, and Alves. And we have the best match winner in the world.

Don't get so fired up.

First of all im not a real madrid fan, so don't jump to personal attacks that don't even make sense, to build an argument against me.

Second of all why are you getting fired up, over my question to you, and my perceptions? They are only my perceptions and my opinions.

I asked one question and no one has answered it yet.

Instead you guys decide, moan about word choice, post irrelevant comments... no one has answered my question clearly.

It seems to me that you as fans are incapable of building good conversation, because you are too defensive.

Bottom line is that the matches have always been close in someway or the other, and small things have determined such.

HA HA, i knew that if i used luck on this you defensive mechanisms would...

1.Prohibit you from making conversation, because you get angered and defensive to easily.

2. Totally make useless comments that take to nothing.

All ive been seeing is barca fans say they would be winning 7 out 10 games, when in reality with mourinho they havent even done that...

Too much delusion in hear to make an argument, because everyone turns defensive, and blinds them selves.

Pathetic.

It's pretty bad when YOU are the only one who thinks your making a good argument or having an intelligent conversation (BTW, through most of this thread your talking with yourself and responding to your own posts)

No one agree's with pretty much anything your saying even Madrid fans. So if your not a Madrid fan and your not a Barca fan then go to the main board and get out of this section because if you come on here and talk nonsense to a bunch of Barca fans how do you think there going to take it.

Also, you using the word delusional to describe us is just hilarious, let me show you some quotes from you just making S*** up, which is the definition of delusional.

1) but what if ronaldo passed to di maria in the first half, and xavi never scored his goal? things would have been very different.

2) Red represents what had happened if "luck" had been on madrid's side.
1-0
1-1
0-0
1-1
3-2 ( Should have been win, but again lack of goals..)
2-3
2-2/Maybe Win

Barcelona would win one of last 7 matches...

I mean these are some of the worst posts I have ever read and you act like you have discovered some monumental truth and were just too slow to understand your ground breaking theories when in "the real world" where people don't make up fictional plays in games and talk to themselves on internet forums we find you to just be dull and a bad attempt at being a troll.

dnmac4 wrote:It's pretty bad when YOU are the only one who thinks your making a good argument or having an intelligent conversation (BTW, through most of this thread your talking with yourself and responding to your own posts)

No one agree's with pretty much anything your saying even Madrid fans. So if your not a Madrid fan and your not a Barca fan then go to the main board and get out of this section because if you come on here and talk nonsense to a bunch of Barca fans how do you think there going to take it.

Also, you using the word delusional to describe us is just hilarious, let me show you some quotes from you just making S*** up, which is the definition of delusional.

1) but what if ronaldo passed to di maria in the first half, and xavi never scored his goal? things would have been very different.

2) Red represents what had happened if "luck" had been on madrid's side.
1-0
1-1
0-0
1-1
3-2 ( Should have been win, but again lack of goals..)
2-3
2-2/Maybe Win

Barcelona would win one of last 7 matches...

I mean these are some of the worst posts I have ever read and you act like you have discovered some monumental truth and were just too slow to understand your ground breaking theories when in "the real world" where people don't make up fictional plays in games and talk to themselves on internet forums we find you to just be dull and a bad attempt at being a troll.

Ill let you guys live in ur fairy tale delusion now.

GOD Loves Barca [Lucky Barca], this is why we are winning, so if u have any problem with this, i can't help u lol

The reason why everyone got so fired up is because you said that we scored a lucky goal while completly ignoring that real madrid scored a just as lucky goal as we did in the first minute(valdes makes his biggest mistake for over 3 years and the ball rebounds 2 times to a real madrid player before they scored)

Il Capitano wrote:i guess 3 barca fans here, really didnt read anything.

read your op and answered the question.