Real Madrid all but relinquished the league title and yet when the final whistle blew, there was a huge roar from the Santiago Bernabeu. Soon, a chant of " Madrid!" went round the stadium. If this game's real value was to be found in the psychological impact it could have on the series of four matches in 18 days upon which these sides embarked on Saturday night, for Real Madrid it shifted from fatalism to optimism in 10 unexpected second-half minutes.
With 10 minutes to go, Barcelona were leading 1-0 through a Leo Messi penalty and were strolling, their superiority embarrassing this mighty arena. Madrid were forced to chase the ball, only to see it denied them, for ever arriving too late. They had just 23% of the ball, were down to 10 men and even Jose Mourinho appeared to have given up. His substitutions withdrawing Angel Di María and Xabi Alonso suggested a coach who was already seeking to protect his key players for the Copa del Rey final on Wednesday and the Champions League semifinal. Their morale, though, was already irrevocably damaged.
Or so it seemed. The change, with Ozil coming on, turned out to have major impact. Marcelo was played in. Dani make the challenge, diving in to nudge the ball behind for a corner. But Marcelo tumbled and, with Mourinho leaping at the side of the pitch, a lifeline offered, referee Cesar Muniz Fernandez pointed to the spot. Cristiano Ronaldo scored and this saga shifted. Madrid had been rescued, Barcelona shook.
It was the second penalty of a match that until then had left many hoping that this series of games will improve and that the climax will be better than the opening chapter; a series that left few in any doubt that Barcelona were dominant. The first had arrived 10 minutes into the second half, when Villa was sent dashing behind the Madrid defence as the ball, holding up on the turf, bounced up slowly. As the tried to turn away from Albiol, the defender, wrong-footed, handled the ball accidentally and then rather more intentionally grabbed Villa around the neck and pulled him to the ground. Muniz Fernandez pointed to the spot and then pulled out a direct red card which means that the defender will not be able to play in the final of the Copa del Rey. Mourinho smiled sarcastically. Messi scored his 30th league goal of the season, his 49th in all competitions. It was the first he had scored against a side managed by Mourinho.
There was little reason to suppose Madrid would get back into it, either. This had been a surprisingly flat game but one that the opposition had largely dominated.
Barcelona had much more of the ball but there was a slowness to their play had ordered that the grass be left long and a lack of clarity and fluidity, the ball moved around reduced spaces and deep areas of the pitch, accumulating bodies and passes but not opportunities. For Barca, who knew that a draw would preserve their league advantage, nor did there appear to be much urgency. For Madrid, the urgency came in the speed with which they launched themselves forward from deep, where they lay in wait, and the pressure they applied to their opponents.
In the opening 22 minutes, Barcelona had 84% of the possession. By half-time, Madrid had managed to claw back a bit of possession but not much: they had just 23%, 116 passes to Barcelona's 383. Víctor Valdes had made more passes than Xabi Alonso. Chances were few a Ronaldo free-kick and header, a Messi lob and a strike after a weaving run and those stats would not change much. But Madrid had more, if largely speculative shots and both teams appeared comfortable, happy to bide their time Barcelona seeking space to thread through the pass; Madrid seeking the swift diagonal and the break, the chance to suck the rivals in and sprint beyond them.
Barcelona did find one of those passes on 26 minutes. Messi slotted the ball through for Villa. He got to the ball fractionally quicker, turned away from Iker Casillas and turned to seek the contact. He found it too, the goalkeeper catching him, but the referee saw it differently. He would have another chance to point to the spot in the second half and this time did not deny Barcelona a penalty. When Messi scored, Barcelona's huge morale-boosting victory and title-clinching victory looked a certainty. Complete control, already exercised, followed. Definitive, too, it seemed. But then, when it looked so easy for the visitors, another penalty also appeared.
The draw means that Barcelona's league lead remains a virtually unassailable eight points, plus head to head goal difference with six games to go. But 10-man Madrid ultimately, unexpectedly felt like the victory was the
score Real Madrid 1 (Ronaldo 82-pen) Barcelona 1 (Messi 53-pen)
Getafe 1 (Flores 75) Sevilla 0
Malaga 3 (Seba 26, Baptista 40, 56) Real Mallorca 0
Almeria 0 Valencia 3 (Soldado 50, Stankevicius 66, Alba 80)
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