Football’s Greatest Goals No.19
This week’s ‘Greatest Goal’ comes from the El Clasico at between Real Madrid and Barcelona on 19th November 2005.
Samuel Eto’o fired Barcelona into the lead in the first half before Ronaldinho scored two fantastic, almost identical goals in the second half.
Ronaldinho ran down the left wing for both goals before cutting inside and hitting the ball past Iker Casillas. The goal that I will feature in this article is the first goal, which came on the hour mark.
Barcelona sped off on a speedy counter-attack with Portuguese international Deco laying the ball off to Ronaldinho who was stood out wide on the left wing and about ten yards inside his own half.
Ronaldinho controlled the ball with his right foot before beginning a blistering dribble down the wing towards the Madrid goal.
Centre back Sergio Ramos was the first Real defender to come and try and dispossess the Brazilian. As he slid in to try and get the ball, Ronaldinho took the ball on the outside of Ramos with an unnerving ease.
He took the ball inside the penalty area where Ivan Helguera and Roberto Carlos stood in his way of the goal. Strike partner Samuel Eto’o was at the far side of the penalty area but Ronaldinho was never going to pass to him!
Helguera stood and made no attempt to slide in and tackle Ronaldinho, choosing to stay on his feet and block the onrushing striker’s route to goal. The Barcelona frontman wrong-footed Helguera with a side-step and his fellow countryman Roberto Carlos began sliding in to try and block an effort at goal.
It was too late as the moment Helguera was passed, Ronaldinho thumped in a hard and low shot in at the the near post. Iker Casillas, the Real Madrid goalkeeper was one of the best goalkeepers in the world in 2005 and he had no chance to react. The ball hit the back of the net before he had a chance to even move!
There was something majestic about the goal. The way that Ronaldinho ran with the ball with such pace and ease made the goal look so simple.
That and the way both Ivan Helguera and Iker Casillas were left standing, unable to have enough time to make a good enough attempt to get to the ball.
Finally the setting. For any Barcelona player to score at the Bernabeu in an El Clasico match must be something special, but for the goal to be that good made it a world-class goal.
The second goal was similar in that Ronaldinho ran in from the left, but his starting point was well inside the Real half and he hit the ball across Casillas instead of at the Spaniard’s near post.
If you watch the video of the second goal, you will see a rare occurrence. Many Real Madrid fans get up off their seats and applaud Ronaldinho for his efforts. This very rarely happens because of the intense rivalry between the clubs. The Real fans really must have known that they were witnessing something truly special.
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