Real Madrid 3-1 Barcelona: El Clasico Review

The 250th El Clasico kicked off at Santiago Bernabeu on Sunday in a table-top clash. Barcelona entered the clash off a gutting defeat at the hands of Inter Milan in the Champions League and hoped to get back to winning ways in the league.

Xavi opted for an evenly balanced lineup on the night. Jules Kounde returned from injury and started as the centre-back alongside Eric Garcia. Alex Balde and Sergi Roberto completed the defensive line as the full-backs.

The midfield saw Frenkie de Jong start with Pedri and Sergio Busquets, while the forward line of Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha and Ousmane Dembele continued as the starting forwards.

The visitors controlled the opening minutes and did not face much resistance from Carlo Ancelotti’s side in holding possession.

They had half-chances in the fifth and seventh minutes but could not make the most of them. Yet, Real Madrid dominated on the counter-attack, and a similar move orchestrated their opening goal.

Toni Kroos sliced through the Blaugrana defence with a perfect pass to Vinicius Jr, releasing the latter free in front of the goal. The Brazilian’s shot was saved well by Marc-Andre Ter Stegen, but Karim Benzema was there to pick up the rebound and slam it home.

The Catalans had a scintillating chance in the 25th minute when Robert Lewandowski received the ball at the far post but could not put it into the open goal. Minutes later, Dembele let go of a half-chance.

Completely in anti-climactic fashion, Real Madrid scored a second goal and put Barcelona under immense pressure. The goal was a banger from Fede Valverde who took his chance from outside the box and sent the ball past Ter Stegen as clean as a whistle.

Heading into half-time, the Catalans had a mountain to climb in adverse conditions. The pressure was on Xavi Hernandez and more so on the players who were staring at their second defeat in a row.

It appeared like the hosts smeared salt into Barcelona’s wounds with a terrific finish from Karim Benzema. However, the team could breathe a sigh of relief as the goal was ruled out for offside. Xavi brought on Ferran Torres, Jordi Alba and Gavi close to the hour mark in a triple substitution.

It was Real Madrid who dominated and created the better chances in the minutes to come. Barcelona seemingly lost all the half-challenges and could barely create any threat to Lunin’s goal. Ansu Fati came on for Dembele in a bizarre move in the 72nd minute.

Robert Lewandowski was taken down in the box in the 74th minute and the referee did not even take a second to decline any chances of a penalty being awarded. Funnily, the incident did not even make it to the VAR’a consideration.

Ansu Fati’s long-range shot in the 77th minute went painfully wide and was the team’s best chance in the second half thus far. Franck Kessie replaced Pedri with eight minutes to go.

In the 82nd minute, Fati made a brilliant run down the left flank. His cross across the face of the goal found Ferran Torres in front of an open goal and the Spaniard tucked it in easily. Barcelona were back in the game and needed one goal in eight minutes.

The Catalans came very close to scoring a second goal just three minutes later when Sergi Roberto and Fati both had shots on goal. However, the former’s was saved and the latters just wide.

VAR once again came up with a controversial moment when Real Madrid were awarded a penalty in the final minute of the game. Eric Garcia narrowly clipped Rodrygo’s foot and that was enough to seal the game for the hosts. Rodrygo stepped up and scored.

With this result, Barcelona fell to second place in the league and the hosts regain the top spot. The season will be long and hard-fought, but the result at the Bernabeu could come back to haunt Xavi’s side.