Barcelona are right back in the La Liga title race thanks to a last-second 3-2 win over Real Madrid in the latest installment of El Clasico on Sunday evening at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid.
Lionel Messi was the hero on the day for the Catalonians, with two goals including a strike in the final moments of the match to send Barcelona to the top of the table ahead of their long-time rivals from the capital, who still have a match in hand.
It was one of the most entertaining Clasicos in recent memory, with lead changes, great goals and of course, controversy, a staple of almost every Clasico.
Casemiro opened the scoring for Real, but Messi soon answered with his first of the day to send the teams to the dressing room tied at 1-1. An Ivan Rakitic rocket and a Sergio Ramos red card seemingly sent Barcelona to victory, but Real had other ideas as substitute James swept home with five minutes remaining to make it 2-2. But on the final play Messi capped off a great build-up and slotted past Keylor Navas to swing the door on the title race wide open.
There was some question as to whether Gareth Bale would be fit enough for Real boss Zinedine Zidane, but those doubts were answered when the Welshman was penciled into Zidane’s line-up to round out the BBC up top, reducing the red-hot Isco to substitute status once again.
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With Neymar’s suspension upheld, Barcelona manager Luis Enrique was forced to find a replacement for the Brazilian, and so the nod was given to former Valencia man Paco Alcacer to join Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi in attack. Otherwise, it was the same starting XI that topped Real Sociedad last Sunday at the Camp Nou.
It was a confident start from Real, while Barcelona looked hesitant and nervous. Cristiano Ronaldo was first to threaten the Barcelona goal with a stinging shot but goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen did well to block the effort. Prior to the Portuguese’s shot though, Messi sustained an elbow to the mouth from Marcelo, which ultimately left the Argentine bleeding on the turf for a minute.
The pressure was mounting from Real though and shortly before the half-hour mark Zidane’s men broke the deadlock through Casemiro. After a corner kick Marcelo curled a ball toward the back post for Sergio Ramos, who beat the offside trap and looked to score past the out-of-position Ter Stegen. The ball struck the post but rolled across to Casemiro who nodded home to give Real the 1-0 lead.
Barcelona needed a response and there was no one better to provide that than Messi. Five minutes after Casemiro’s score, La Pulga deposited the ball past Keylor Navas to pull Barcelona level 1-1 after receiving a fine pass from Ivan Rakitic and juking past Modric and Dani Carvajal before scoring.
Barcelona were still allowing Real time and space outside the area, all but inviting Real to shoot from distance, and if not for a diving save from Ter Stegen, Modric would have notched Los Blancos’ second goal of the half. On the play Bale pulled up lame and had to be substituted off, with Marco Asensio taking the former Tottenham man’s place.
At the other end though Messi was clearly locked in and some poor defending from the hosts almost allowed La Pulga to score a second, but instead the shot curled just wide of the post. That was followed by another chance in the last second of the half when he failed to connect at the far post on a corner kick.
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Real enjoyed a bright start to the second-half and Toni Kroos was inches away from regaining the lead for Los Blancos but Ter Stegen soared to the rescue with a save. The German stopper was called into action again and this time had to make a spectacular kick save to keep Benzema from heading in.
Ter Stegen wasn’t the only goalkeeper capable of a big stop. Navas was called into action on three occasions, making reaction saves on an Alcacer shot, a Pique header and a Suarez shot from close-range.
But there was nothing the Costa Rican could do to stop Rakitic’s go-ahead goal in the 73rd minute, as a failed clearance fell to the Croatia international, who sent Kroos flying by with a move before unleashing a sizzling left-footer that flew past Navas and in to give Barcelona the 2-1 lead.
Real’s job of getting an equaliser got a lot more difficult with 13 minutes to play when Ramos was sent off for making a two-footed lunge on Messi. There was a noticeable exchange of words between Spain teammates Ramos and Pique as the former walked off the field, but it was the latter who had a chance to ice the match minutes later but was denied by Navas.
Zidane looked to his bench for a spark and brought on James to add some scoring punch. Three minutes later the Colombian obliged, sweeping home a left-footer off a Marcelo cross to make it a 2-2 affair.
James’ goal looked like it would hold up and give Real a huge leg up in the title race, but on the final play of the match, Sergi Roberto eluded two men and charged into the Real half before passing to Andre Gomes, who played to the overlapping Alba and the cutback found Messi who fired in for the dramatic 3-2 winner.
– Match Sheet:
2.- Real Madrid: Keylor; Carvajal, Nacho, Ramos, Marcelo; Casemiro (Kovacic, min. 70), Kroos, Modric; Bale (Asensio, min. 39), Benzema (James, min. 82), Cristiano Ronaldo
3.- Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Sergi Roberto, Pique, Umtiti, Jordi Alba; Busquets, Rakitic, Iniesta; Messi, Suarez, Alcacer (Andre Gomes, min. 70)
Goals: 1-0, min. 28: Casemiro; 1-1, min. 33: Messi; 1-2, min. 73: Rakitic; 2-2, min. 85: James; 2-3, min. 92: Messi
Referee: Hernandez Hernandez (Canarian).
Yellow Cards: Casemiro (Min. 12) for Real Madrid, Umtiti (Min. 39) for Barcelona, Kovacic (Min. 81) for Real Madrid, Messi (Min. 92) for Barcelona
Red cards: Ramos (Min. 77) for Real Madrid
Stadium: Santiago Bernabeu
Attendance: 81,044
