THE 157TH EL CLASSICO. OR THE CLASSIC.

This was the one hunded and fiftyseventh match between the two Spanish giants , Real Madrid and Barcelona. And when ever these two clash it is bound to exciting and the game and atmosphere is on a war footing. With mothing asked and nothing given.
This match was played on the 13/12/2008 at the Barcelona ground called The Camp Nou, which means New Fields.And the stadium of 90,000 thousand was packed like a sardine can.The streets of Madrid and Barcelona were deserted, but all the pubs in these two cities were overcrowded.
Barcelona with heavy hearts welcomed the Real Madrid team in the tradion welcome for the ruling champions.
A lot of things were said of the two clubs,as Barcelona had failed to win at the Nou Camp , they last beat Real Madrid in 2005. But this year it was different Barcelona had won fourteen straight games , and was the first club this year to qualify for the group of 16 clubs. While Real Madrid had lost both their matches to Juventus, and scraped through in the other.
the 13th was a rainy and damp day .But Barcelona were by far the better side in the first half Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernandes and Henry gave a few anctious moments , but the goals failed to come by, the main wall for Real was as usual Iker Casillas Reals young goalkeeper. At one time it very much looked like it wouyld end in a draw, but it would not be so. There was a penalty awarded to Barcelona but it was left to Iker Casillas to save it.
Barcelona keptup their smooth and classy passing , and as usual they kept the ball possestion for long times frustrating Real, real to had their chances and missed some sitters. It was Puyol who with ten minutes remaining on the clock passed the ball to Samuel Etoo who did not miss beating Casillas all ends up.
Lionel Messi was the star of the game h e just cut his way around and both Sergio Ramos and Royston Drenthe were told to stick to Messi like glue. Messi was on the ball and Fabio Canavaro made a well judged sliding tackle.Michel Salgoda conceeded the penalty by bringing downSergi Busquets, but Casillas saved the penalty with his finger tips. Mesi was far quiter later on, then on the 91st minute Thiery Henry sent Lionel Messi clear, and messi sent a beautiful chip, beat the diving Casillas,.
Bernd Schuster had said before he was sacked . That Barcelona would be hard to beat, as they are 14 games without a loss.