Ronaldo 1 x 1 Ronaldinho

Well, Cicinho almost got it right. He predicted 2 Brazilian goals, but his own was transferred to Ronaldinho. I liked to see Ronaldo scoring in his old Ronaldo style, but other than that I was not very impressed. I was expecting more from El Classico, maybe because of all those amazing Nike commercials. What really got on my nerves was the childish attitude of our veteran defender Roberto Carlos. He didn’t get a yellow card for the penalty, but for insulting the referee, soon after that he got a red one for the same reason.

As Afshin Afshar well pointed, many Brazilians were in the game, so let me say what I think about their participation on the “clash of titans” Real Madrid and Barcelona.

Cicinho played well, but not as good as he usually does. He played only as good as Beckham, and that’s no compliment. Usually he works all over the field, but the absence of RC was harmful to all the team.

Robinho was early removed from the game thanks to Rob Carlos goo-goo daa-daa attitude. I didn’t see much from him either in the few minutes he was playing.

Julio Baptista was a real warrior all the time, nearly scored, served Ronaldo with an absolute precise pass and didn’t give up until the end. He always plays like that and really deserves to be a starter for Brazil at the World Cup.

Ronaldo was running more than usual. This game was very important to his team but mainly for him as a striker. His goal was amazing, kicking the ball softly over the goalkeeper showed a cool mind under the pressure of the moment.

Belleti was ok, doing his job as he is supposed to do.

Ronaldinho wasn’t very inspired. He played better than most on the field, but Barcelona, with 11 didn’t win over Real Madrid’s 10 men team. He didn’t bring that extra flair to the game, playing under his maximum ability.

I was hoping Real would win just to give an extra spice to the end of the Spanish League. It would also boost some confidence for Ronaldo to recover his best football skills, but that great goal will help. I still believe and hope that the real magic will occur when all the right ingredients are mixed together in June.

Click here for game reports from BBC, Barcelona and Real Madrid.