The Centre Circle

Real Madrid 0-2 Barcelona

Barcelona tightened their grip on La Liga after this victory over Real Madrid at the Bernabeu. They now sit 3 points clear at the top of the division with a slightly better goal difference. Yet again it was Lionel Messi who broke the deadlock starting and finishing a move from a free kick on the left hand side, with a little help from Xavi, who played him in with a lovely chipped pass.

Xavi created the second for Pedro who breaking through the Madrid defence opened his body before sweeping the ball past Casillas. Barcelona were never troubled, although Madrid have a late goal chalked off from Raul following a debatable handball.

Goal highlights below…

The biggest game in club football comes up this weekend. El Classico, Real Madrid host Barcelona in the crunch game in La Liga, both teams separated by just one goal in goal difference in what has turned into a two horse race for the title. Valencia sit in third, a distant 21 points adrift! Real Madrid sit on top after an incredible run of 12 consecutive victories; their last defeat was on 16th January when they lost 1-0 at Athletic Bilbao. Since that day, Manuel Luis Pellegrini’s side has averaged around 3 goals per game, and the run may have saved the Real coach’s job, for now that is, after being dumped out of the Champion’s League by Lyon. The acid test comes this week at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu and any defeat will just not be tolerated, especially the 6-2 mauling that Barcelona inflicted on Madrid last season in the same fixture.

In an attempt to close the yawning gap between the two deadly rivals, Real went on an unprecedented spending spree in the off-season, spending in excess of £200 million, Albiol, Kaka, Ronaldo, Benzema, Alonso & Arbeloa all joining and in the second half of the season it has appeared that the expensively assembled team has finally started to gel, at least in domestic competition. Funnily enough, the spearhead for Madrid’s charge up the league has not just been the “golden boy” Christiano Ronaldo (pictured above) but, also Argentinean striker Gonzalo Higuaín, who has plundered 24 goals so far this season. El Pipita has slowly been honing his skills over the past few years after signing from River Plate in 2006, no doubt learning a great deal from the senior member of the Real Madrid squad, Raul, and he has finally broke onto the scene to become one of the top strikers in La Liga.

Real’s striking ability has never been in doubt, but wether they have the defensive nous to cope with a Barcelona team who themselves are in rampant form is another matter entirely. Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Albiol and the rest of Madrid’s defensive unit will be tested to the full, it could be a busy night for them. If the likes of Diarra and Alonso can cut the supply to Messi and Bojan, then maybe Madrid have a chance to grab a famous and long overdue win against the Catalan side, but personally I doubt it.

After their super show on Tuesday night and despite the fact that Real will be going into the derby as the fresher side after not playing midweek, I still take Barcelona to do the double over Los Merengues after their narrow 1-0 win earlier in the season. My prediction, for what it is worth, is for a Barcelona 3-1 win, and for Messi & Co to continue their dominance of La Liga and Europe.

What do you think and predict will happen? Please make your comments below…

Bad news for Barcelona, good news for Arsenal. Zlatan Ibrahimovic picked up a calf strain in the warm up for yesterday evening’s game versus Athletic Bilbao and it has been confirmed that the injury will rule him out of the second leg Champions League quarter final tie against  Arsenal on Tuesday night. Ibrahimovic, who was due to start Saturday night’s game, scored both goals at the Emirates Stadium last Wednesday and has been in fantastic form of late. He may also miss El Classico next weekend when Barcelona play their deadly rivals Real Madrid.

This is a big blow for Barcelona who may replace him for the Arsenal and Real Madrid games with Henry or maybe Bojan who scored twice tonight in place of the Swedish international. The other scorers were Jeffren and the inevitable goal from Messi in an easy 4-1 win over Athletic at the Camp Nou.

Goals from Saturday’s 4-1 win for Barcelona against Bilbao below – sorry they don’t have English commentary…

Another Messi hat-trick – the second goal is as good an individual goal you will ever see – he is on fire right now. Who’d want be a defender against him, an impossible job…

If you didn't see it on Sunday night, here’s a link to a phenomenal hat-trick by Lionel Messi verses Valencia. The opposing players were shaking their heads in disbelief – how on earth do you stop him in this form? Enjoy…