Ibrahimovic strikes El Clasico winner for Barca

Zlatan Ibrahimovic came off the bench to score a superb volley to give Barcelona a 1-0 win over Real Madrid in the latest El Clasico.

The match was a battle of Spain's 2 biggest clubs & most bitter rivals. On this occasion, it was also a battle of Spain's best side (Barcelona, treble winners previous season) against the most expensively assembled side in club football (Real Madrid, who has splashed €300 million on new players in the wake of Barcelona's treble success). Hence the build up & the hype in the lead up to the match was absolutely enormous. It was Spanish football's glamour match & apparently, it was the first time that cinemas all over Spain would be showing the match live.

The list of players on parade for the match reads like a "who's who" of world football: Messi, Iniesta, Xavi & Henry for Barcelona; Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Xabi Alonso & Benzema for Real Madrid. The match was end to end stuff, with Barcelona the home team trying to show who is boss & Real Madrid having something to prove, especially after last season's epic 6-2 drubbing by Barcelona at their home ground. Barca didn't play to their best level, yet were good enough to get the narrow win. They, as always, showed enterprise but never really carved Madrid apart, as Madrid defended well. Real Madrid had a couple of good chances in the first half to open the scoring, but missed them.

Barcelona were even down to 10 men just shortly after Ibrahimovic's goal, so they had to battle hard to earn the win. Interestingly, they were more convincing when playing with a men less. Meanwhile, the jury is still out on Ibrahimovic. Notorious for no-showing in big matches, he scored when Barcelona needed a goal. To be honest, a draw would probably have been a fair result - Real Madrid showed plenty of enterprise & must be commended for that. But hey, I am happy with the result. No repeat of the 6-2 scoreline, but 1-0 will do here, especially considering that Barcelona did not produce their greatest performance, while Real Madrid did play very well. At the end of the day, the win meant that Barca draws first blood in this season's Spanish title race, but there is still a long way to go. There were patches during the match where Barcelona were hesitant & inattentive, which allowed Madrid to have shots at Barca's goal. They need to cut down on those moments. And, I hope Barcelona will be able to use this win to spur them on to greater things.