When the starting lineups for Saturday’s El Clasico were announced, there was really only one surprise in the 22 players named for battle: Zinedine Zidane’s decision to drop Isco to the bench in favor of Mateo Kovacic. For many, Isco has been Real’s best player over the past year — a footballer of sublime skill, technique and playmaking ability — while Kovacic’s inclusion meant one thing only: Lionel Messi limitation.
The industrious Croatian set about shadowing Messi around the Bernabeu pitch, a dangerous tactic when considering Messi’s free range of movement and the wealth of other attacking options at Barca’s disposal. To be fair to Zidane, the opening half hour seemed to justify his decision.
Real probably should’ve taken the lead at some point in game’s opening period, but they failed to capitalize on their early dominance. Barcelona, and Messi especially, are never going to be held down for that long, and that proved to be the case here.
Messi came to life 30 minutes in with a wonderfully curved ball over the top of Real’s backline, springing Paulinho in on goal. His effort was saved by Keylor Navas, but Barca had awakened.
¡UFFF! @paulinhop8 amedrenta la portería del @realmadrid pero el tico @NavasKeylor estaba atento. #ElClásico pic.twitter.com/7iRHdaFcfR
— beIN SPORTS Español (@ESbeINSPORTS) December 23, 2017
Messi again provided for Paulinho before halftime, but the Brazilian’s header was again smartly saved by the Costa Rican international. But Messi’s influence was growing as he popped up in all areas of Real’s half.
Nuevamente @paulinhop8 @NavasKeylor y nuevamente el tico salva al @realmadrid #ElClásico pic.twitter.com/fhTIMNGrDp
— beIN SPORTS Español (@ESbeINSPORTS) December 23, 2017
Barcelona got the go-ahead goal in the 54th minute with Sergio Busquets, Ivan Rakitic, Sergi Roberto and Luis Suarez making it happen, but studio analysts were quick to point out how Kovacic spent the entirety of the move behind the play, forgoing decisive action in favor of shadowing Messi.
¡GOOOOOOL DEL @FCBarcelona_es! @LuisSuarez9 anota su gol número 10 en #ElClásico y el conjunto culé da el primer golpe en el Santiago Bernabéu - pic.twitter.com/KgaTOUlzKP
— beIN SPORTS Español (@ESbeINSPORTS) December 23, 2017
Messi was then instrumental in Barcelona’s second and third goals. For the second, it was his pass that triggered the Blaugrana’s frantic assault, culminating in Dani Carvajal’s blatant red card.
Gran pelota de Leo Messi a @LuisSuarez9 , pasa de todo dentro del area y hasta ROJA le dan a @DaniCarvajal92 por descarada mano #ElClásico ¡HABRÁ PENAL! pic.twitter.com/1Zw0jiAqaS
— beIN SPORTS Español (@ESbeINSPORTS) December 23, 2017
He then did the honors from the spot, scoring his 15th goal in 17 La Liga matches.
¡GOOOOL! Desde el punto penal Leo Messi marca su gol número 25 en #ElClásico y el @FCBarcelona_es gana - pic.twitter.com/hrd5QjL34c
— beIN SPORTS Español (@ESbeINSPORTS) December 23, 2017
Eight minutes later, Kovacic was withdrawn for Gareth Bale, but the damage had already been done. Messi threatened for the remainder of the match before providing the assist on Barca’s third, a great run followed by a cutback to Aleix Vidal. It was Messi’s sixth assist of the league campaign.
¡GOLEADA del @FCBarcelona_es! Leo Messi se la deja a Aleix Vidal, quien rompe los corazones merengues via un - en la casa blanca #ElClásico ¿Vieron la polémica? pic.twitter.com/644ca1tBZZ
— beIN SPORTS Español (@ESbeINSPORTS) December 23, 2017
In the end, the numbers speak for themselves.
Lionel Messi: Created 9 goalscoring opportunities against Real Madrid, a record in a La Liga match this season #elclasico pic.twitter.com/ZYGqKsQ5nX
— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) December 23, 2017
Lionel Messi's game by numbers vs. Real Madrid:
88% pass accuracy
9 chances created
6 take-ons completed
1 goal
1 assistRunning the show. pic.twitter.com/JQjtogO0Ke
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) December 23, 2017
Questions will be asked of Zidane’s decision given how the second half played out, but with Messi playing like this, it’s difficult to say what the Frenchman could’ve done. Isco would’ve been a brave decision to fight fire with fire, but Messi’s fire is a raging inferno that’s once again engulfed and laid waste to the Bernabeu.