Real Madrid 2-1 Barcelona
A La Liga ‘six-pointer’ and a highly enjoyable one.
As the rain poured down in Spain, the reign of Real Madrid as league champions remains alive and well as they returned to the summit for the first time in six months with victory in El Clasico.
Goals inside the first half hour were enough to seal a league double over their arch-rivals for the first time since 2007/08.
Talk about timing your run to perfection!
With eight league games remaining, they are now firmly in the running for Spanish football’s main prize.
Highlights of the game
Based on the La Liga highlights provided by Karim Benzema and Toni Kroos in the first 28 minutes, this was a deserved win for Zinedine Zidane and his men.
Before kick-off, I fancied Barcelona may have the edge. After all, the Catalan club have enjoyed a sudden, unexpected and hugely impressive resurgence of late, so it was no surprise they were in control of the ball.
Real didn’t appear to mind too much as they proved lethal on the counter and it took them just 13 minutes to take the lead.
It was a superb goal to break the deadlock too as Lucas Vazquez flashed in a low cross where Benzema had much to do but managed to flick the ball off the back of his heel past Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
The Frenchman played a blinder against Liverpool in midweek, not finding the target, but ruthlessly creating gaps in their opponents’ defence and holding the ball up with distinction.
This was the other side to his game as the Frenchman finished clinically.
If that was simply sumptuous, his team-mate Vinicius was superb in the 28th minute as he raced down the left and cut inside before being brought down on the edge of the box.
Up stepped Kroos and the 35 year-old’s free-kick hit Sergino Dest and deflected into the top corner with Jordi Alba unable to clear on the goal line.
Only the post denied Lucas Vazquez a quick third, again after good work between Vinicius and Federico Valverde, and the former was to leave the fray shortly before the break after a hefty-looking challenge from Sergio Busquets.
The injury briefly rocked Real and Barcelona, who had won 16 of their last 19 league games going into this one, nearly reduced the arrears on the stroke of half-time as Lionel Messi – 23 goals in 27 league games this season – bent in a corner which beat goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and smacked the far post.
The Barcelona captain hasn’t scored in a Clasico fixture since 2018, despite enjoying an excellent record against Barca’s most bitter rivals, scoring 21 goals in his first 27 games against them – he has since scored just five in his last 17.
The Catalans did get one back on the hour as Alba delivered from the left, and while substitute Antoine Griezmann and Frenkie de Jong both failed to connect, stand-in right-back Oscar Mingueza did fare better, rifling the ball into the ground and up into the net. It wasn’t pretty but Ronald Koeman’s men were back in it.
The SBOTOP La Liga betting odds – just like the title race – were on a knife edge.
A Vinicius cross was deflected onto a post but it was Barcelona who looked more likely to score again.
When Real midfielder Casemiro received a second yellow card in stoppage time, Barca sniffed they may get one more chance.
It arrived when a free-kick was launched into the box and sub Ilaix Moriba reached the ball, drilling a shot off the bar of Courtois and, no doubt, a relieved Real.
Fortunate to hold on perhaps, but fortune favours the brave and Real showed those qualities in abundance.
For so long on the periphery, the race for the La Liga title now seems to be going all the way to the wire.
Key statistics
Benzema’s opener ended his recent nine-game duck against the Catalan club.
He has scored at least one goal in each of his last seven La Liga matches (nine goals) and has become only the fourth Real player to score in seven or more in a row in the competition in the 21st century, following Ruud van Nistelrooy (2007), Cristiano Ronaldo (four times) and Gareth Bale (2018).
Real have only lost one of their last 20 La Liga games (won 15, drawn four), after losing three of their previous six in the competition.
Mingueza became the first Barcelona defender to score v Real since Marc Bartra in the 2014 Copa del Rey Final.
What’s next?
Real meet Liverpool in the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final on Wednesday (April 14) and then continue their La Liga charge at Getafe on Sunday night (April 18).
Barcelona have a big match of their own as they take on Athletic Bilbao in the Copa del Rey Final on Saturday.
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