Camp Nou was the venue for the second leg quarter-final clash between Real Madrid and Barcelona, Real Madrid came into this game knowing that they needed to score twice and concede none in order to progress to the next round.
Marcelo was once again left on the bench, Fabio Coentrao started in defense for the away team.
Pepe who hogged the limelight for all the wrong reasons after the first leg was once again given the nod by Jose Mourinho.
Kaka and Ozil both started the game for Real Madrid.
Higuain missed a really good opportunity in the opening minute of the game, Gerard Pique's mistake provided an opportunity to Higuain but the striker refused to take it.
Pinto made a series of good saves in the first-half, Higuain was denied by the keeper in the third minute of the game. Kaka passed the ball to the striker who struck a sweet half-volley but the keeper was equal to the effort.
Real Madrid started the game incredibly well but failed to take their chances.
Ozil almost scored a peach of a goal in the 25th minute, the shot was struck from 25 yards out and came back off the crossbar, Pinto was a well beaten man on that occasion.
Barcelona went 1-0 up in the 43rd minute, Messi drove through the heart of Real Madrid's defense and played the ball into the path of Pedro who produced a clinical finish.
It became 2-0 in the injury time of the first-half when Dani Alves scored an amazing goal from way outside the 18 yard box.
It became a herculean task for Real Madrid, they now needed to score thrice to progress.
Ramos put the ball in the back of the net in the opening minutes of the second-half but the goal was disallowed because the defender had fouled Dani Alves in the build-up to the goal.
Callejon and Benzema were introduced around the hour mark by Mourinho, they replaced Kaka and Higuain respectively.
Ozil found Ronaldo in the 68th minute, it was a great through ball and Ronaldo pulled one back for Real Madrid.
Benzema scored a really good goal in the 72nd minute, he showed exceptional composure and it became 2-2.
Ramos was sent off in the 89th minute for a second bookable offense, it looked an innocuous challenge but the referee thought differently.
The game ended 2-2, it was a great comeback from Real Madrid but they fell short of one goal.
Where were the ball boys?
The ball goes out for a Real Madrid throw in the 89th minute but the ball boys were nowhere to be seen, Casillas had to run and fetch the ball, great hosts.
[For more about Real Madrid's last Copa del Rey matches, check out our Q&A with Aaron, Tanuj and Apakshit! You can listen to it as an mp3 file, on our Youtube channel or on iTunes.]
We should have won by at least 2 goals... we were the better team. Ozil was an artist tonight and ran his butt off... Nice how the ref didn't add the minute and a half Alves wasted on the ground.
A lot of fans talking about how it was nice to see us outplay Barcelona, but it takes a short memory to forget that this was pretty much par for the course if you remember to the myriad of matches at the tail end of last season and even really the first leg of the super copa. We can certainly compete with them in every form... except luck it seems.
real was playing against 11 goal keepers. ref didnt see the 2 hand ball in the game. would have made it a much better game.
We did not take our chances, Higuain was very wasteful in the firs-half. He should have scored in the opening minute of the game.
First*
After a long time writing on madridismo (sorry for that Gaelle) amazing game really dont care about result we know we deserved to win cause we played for prestige and its not lost. Just that finishing could have been better, Nevermind i really hope Mou realises the recipe for the perfect magic because that exactly what was at display. no point discussing who dived and who didnt. Results shall come i am very sure about that.
Hala Madrid
The final score should have easily been 4-2 to Real Madrid. Disgrace refereeing...
Putting that aside though, I am very disappointed with Pepe and his theatrics last night. It was too much but other than that, I was very proud of the team and yes, the loss hurts, but the display was close to perfection. Hala Madrid
Welcome Gumby!
Srijan: You're good! ;-) - Yeah, as I said in Ankit's post (SiempreReal), it tastes like a loss because of the elimination of course, but the final result was a tie, and psychologically it definitely feels like a win.
Apakshit: Lack of finishing is definitely a problem of ours, isn't it? Or at least if we compare to Barça's finishing... ::rolling eyes::
Aaron: the luck factor you're mentioning, are you being sarcastic & implying referee issues, or do you really mean luck per se? (Not easy to figure it out when you're reading and not hearing the words!)
Ali: I noticed that the ref was quick in showing cards for things like complaining, but was very forgiving for hard tackle (in general). I missed the first 30 minutes, so I didn't see the whole Lass being booked thing, but I had a feeling at first that the ref was basically trying to keep things as cool as possible by not booking excessively. Things seemed to change later on... Do you think he was more forgiving towards Barça and tougher on Madrid or a disgrace in general? I have to say, I'm really not sure what to think. I feel it was pretty evenly distributed. The only thing that clearly comes to mind as completely unfair is that Alves' goal was scored beyond the first half extra time, while when the same Alves wasted the second half 's extra time lying on the ground, those precious seconds were not added back...
Last night on Twitter, I started a short series of postive facts to keep in mind despite the elimination, and I can think of a couple more actually. This is not a deep analysis, just a few things that cheered me up when I was disappointed about being out of the Copa.
#1- The "Barça mental block" is over.
#2- We can be proud Madridistas (again?).
#3- Not even a 2-0 disadvantage into half time stopped the team from playing their game.
#4- The disappointed fans probably forgave Mourinho for last week's decisions.
#5- Cristiano proved twice in a row that he's not a big game choker.
#6- Özil is back to dazzle us with his magic tricks.
#7- Oh I'm so looking forward to the next Clásico now!
