Derbies are always the most anticipated games in the football world. Top of the list is and will always be Barcelona against Real Madrid given that both teams are more or less the biggest and most famous two teams in the world in terms of financial power and star players. Arguably the best two players in the history of the game, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, in addition to world class players in the form of Bale, Suarez, Neymar and Iniesta, all have gone head to head to entertain football fans around the world and Egyptian fans are no different. Saturday 3 December starting from 5.15pm to 7pm Egyptian time, usually overcrowded Egyptian streets somehow became empty and easy on the eye but when you know it was Barcelona vs Real Madrid you would know the relative silence made perfect sense straight away. It's not only Ahly vs Zamalek that empties Egyptian streets and get Egyptians together in coffee shops and local cafeterias. The Spanish derby certainly has the same impact on all Egyptian football fans. Coffee shops were as loud as ever with fans of both giants screaming and cheering on their teams as if they were in the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona itself, not just watching in front of the television. The spirit was second to none and the energy was extremely refreshing to people passing by. It felt like the 2006 African Cup of Nations which Egypt hosted and won. However, on the field the Spanish derby was surprisingly much quieter than was anticipated as both teams seemed very reluctant to open up the game. El Clasico didn't really witness many clear cut chances and both Messi and Ronaldo were restricted to very little space to work their magic even though both of them could have scored with Messi having one big chance and Ronaldo having three decent ones. The game ended in a 1-1 draw with the breakthrough coming from Luis Suarez in the 53rd minute as he headed home Neymar's free kick to send the home fans crazy. It was Real Madrid who seemed closer to scoring until that point. Real Madrid were shell shocked for the following 10-15 minutes and Barcelona came close to adding a second goal several times including a chance by Messi. Failing to add that killer goal was always going to haunt the home team who paid the price in the last minute of the game. You could even guess who popped up to score the last minute header for Real Madrid in this huge game. If you guessed Sergio Ramos then you know this team quite well as we already lost count how many times the prolific defender rescued his team with the last kick of the game. Modric whipped in a perfect cross that was met perfectly by the high rising Ramos who made sure the travelling away fans would go back home in good spirits while the home spectators surely went home feeling down for two reasons. First, their home team failed to close the six-point gap at the top of the table and second they failed to capitalise on the home advantage and the early goal scored by Suarez which surely means the draw will feel like a loss to Barca fans. But it will feel like a win for the travelling Real team and their fans. Two set pieces defined the game but surely did not define the season as both giants will continue their mission of trying to top each other until the last kick of the season both in Europe and in local competitions.
