lol, truly epic failure of a performance from Real, not sure how much blame Ronaldo/Benzema get as they got literally nothing from their team, Ozil touched the ball all of 4 times in the first half maybe, two or three woeful woeful corners, followed by woeful Di Maria corners.
For me it was Alonso/Khedira, but mostly Alonso who were the worst players by far. They seemingly decided to set up their defensive midfield line around 5 yards infront of the defenders, but they refused to put pressure on the ball, Alonso backed all the way into his back 4 countless times throughout. The problem is, when Messi makes a run off the midfield, and the pass goes through the defensive midfielders, that SHOULD happen 10-20 yards ahead of the centre backs, giving them and the fullbacks time to react and cover runs, because those runs started right on top of the CB's, they had no chance at all to react.
Alonso/Khedira made it utterly impossible, should never be THAT deep and they barely put in a tackle or any pressure throughout the game. Diarra looked like someone whose barely played in a year, but he came on and gave them a tiny bit of bite in midfield, he did what Alonso/Khedira should have been doing from the first minute.
As always Real's fullbacks are shockingly poor, even that last goal, Ramos just jogging back, completely unaware of the guy behind him, and ignoring the guy 5 yards infront of him, a decent defender would have EASILY got to that ball across the keeper first and cleared it, he just put no effort in, was lazy, and was consistantly out of position.
Alonso for the 4th I think it was, gave away the ball when under little pressure, took his time, got under pressure, awful pass, then he played both Barca players onside, then didn't bother tracking the run, though Villa was it didn't pass across, had he done so Alonso just ignored him, and he did this while playing in the back 4 again, completely out of position.
I have no idea why he's regarded as defensive, he's absolutely shocking when under pressure, and defensively isn't a tackler, positionally horrific, no idea how to protect his back four, just shocking.
Pepe and Casillas, the GK made some great saves with quick reactions, can't really be to blame though kicking it long to no one wasn't the best idea. Pepe, did very well multiple times, but also caught flat footed in that back four line repeatedly when it did cost them goals, by FAR the best Real defender on the night though.
Shocking performance, shocking management, first player to come off for me would have been Alonso and putting in a flat easy to control midfield four positionally, one free role for someone like Diarra to go kick people and Ronaldo upfront, Benzema's never looked like he might get a long ball and score himself, nor hold it up.
More pressure for the home game now, its an absolutely must win.
