It never gets old to see FC Barcelona face Real Madrid in a historic match we all call The Clasico. With a collective worth of $600 million on the field, it was a game that no one wanted to miss. Several players experienced this historic game for the first time today, among them Luis Suarez, Ivan Rakitiç, Jeremy Mathieu, and Claudio Bravo all made their first appearance in the Clasico for Barcelona, while James Rodriguez, Toni Kroos, and Javier Hernandez all hoped to make their debuts in this fixture for Real Madrid.
Last season the Catalans took both victories in the league Clasicos. They first met up on October 26, 2013, with Barcelona taking the 2-1 win, and on March 23rd, Barcelona took the points at the Santiago Bernabeu with a 4-3 win sealed with a late penalty goal by Lionel Messi in the 83rd minute. Today was a whole new story, with Real Madrid taking the 3-1 win over FC Barcelona.
Four minutes in, Barcelona was already on the scoreboard, as Lionel Messi and Xavi Hernandez created some beautiful pass play and found Luis Suarez. His cross found Neymar, who controlled the ball and set it up to his right, juking out Sergio Ramos and Pepe before finding some space to shoot into the right bottom corner of Iker Casillas’s net.
After the opening goal, a couple of opportunities were created once by Messi during a free kick and twice in which we saw Madrid hit the goal post. We did not see anything again until the 35th minute, when a cross was delivered into the Barcelona box from Marcelo from the left side of the field and hit Gerard Pique’s arm. The penalty was given, and Claudio Bravo’s 754 minutes streak without a goal conceded ended today. As the penalty was about to be taken by Ronaldo, Bravo took a couple breathers to set himself up for the chance to keep Barcelona’s lead, but he guessed wrong and Ronaldo was able to tuck the ball into the right side.
After the equalizer, Real Madrid had control for the rest of the first half. In the 44th minute, it was Real Madrid who had a chance. Marcelo crossed the ball again from the left side of the field and James was able to find the ball with a header but the ball went too far wide and the half finished tied 1-1.
The second half started with pressure from both teams. Pique started to make some improvements in the second half and was making some key stops for Barcelona, making up for the handball he was called for in the first half. However, it was Real Madrid who scored once again in the 51th minute taking the lead off a corner kick. Toni Kroos crossed the ball into the box and Pepe was able to find the ball with a beautiful header to make it 2-1. This was Pepe’s first goal in any Clasico game as well.
Jeremy Mathieu had a chance in the 56th minute as Messi gave him the ball and he was able to find some space and kick the ball, which looked like it was going in the top left corner of Casillas goal, but Casillas was there to save it from becoming 2-2.
The first substitution came in the 60th minute where we saw Rakitiç come on to make his first Clasico appearance. Not a minute later, Madrid took a 3-1 lead. After a poor pass by Rakitic, Isco got control of the ball, beat Andres Iniesta and Mathieu, and found Ronaldo. Some beautiful passing play saw the ball get to Rodriguez and then to Benzema, who was able to find some space and shoot the ball to the left side of Bravo’s net, kissing the post on its way in.
Suarez came off in the 69th minute, ending his Barcelona debut and looking amazing throughout the game. Iniesta came off due to an injury, and Pedro and Sergi Roberto both came on, hoping to make a difference in the game for Barcelona. Isco, who looked phenomenal, came off in the 84th minute for Illaramendi, and in the 86th, Benzema came off the field for Sami Khedira came in to replace him. Benzema had a tremendous performance, scoring the goal to put Real 3-1 up.
The game came to an end after 3 minutes of stoppage time, and Real Madrid got the three points following their first win over Barcelona since last season. This was also the Catalans first loss under Luis Enrique. Real Madrid were by far the best team on the field. Benzema, Ronaldo, Marcelo, James and Isco were all phenomenal for Madrid. For Barcelona, it wasn’t their best performance, as they did not play as well as most are used to seeing the Catalans play. Messi wasn’t heard from much, and Neymar was the only one was able to create something for the Azulgranas. Suarez was also phenomenal and did not look rusty at all. The defense was very vulnerable, however, and Bravo’s lost his clean sheet record. With all this being said, Real Madrid is now one point behind Barcelona in the Liga table, with Sevilla and Valencia CF right behind them.
(Featured image: AFP/Getty/Gerard Julien)
(GIF credits: Shuatoi/tumblr)