Madrid (dpa)
Barcelona came close to winning the Spanish Football League title, after winning the El Clasico match against its arch-rivals Real Madrid 1/2 in the twenty-sixth round of the competition.
The first half ended with a 1/1 draw, as Real Madrid advanced with a goal scored by Ronaldo Araujo, Barcelona player, by mistake in his team’s goal in the ninth minute, before Barcelona equalized with a goal scored by Sergi Roberto in the last minute of the original time of the first half.
In the second half, Frank Casey scored Barcelona’s second goal in the second minute of stoppage time for the match.
With only 12 matches remaining at the end of the league, Barcelona raised its score to 68 points at the top of the standings, 12 points ahead of Real Madrid, the second-place finisher whose score stopped at 56 points.
This victory became Barcelona’s first over Real Madrid at the Camp Nou since the 5/1 victory on October 28, 2018.
The two teams will meet next April 5 again in the second leg of the semi-finals of the King’s Cup of Spain, knowing that Barcelona won the first leg with a clean goal. There was no feeling for a pulse, as Real Madrid launched a dangerous attack in the first minute, when Karim Benzema hit a powerful ball that was brilliantly saved by Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Barcelona goalkeeper.
Barcelona responded two minutes later when Robert Lewandowski hit a powerful ball from outside the penalty area, which was brilliantly saved by Thibaut Courtois, the Real Madrid goalkeeper.
And in the ninth minute, Real Madrid scored the goal of progress when Vinicius Jr. penetrated the ball from the left side, and passed a cross that hit Ronald Araujo’s head and changed its direction to hug the net. After the goal, the play became a record from the two teams in search of scoring goals, but they failed to form any threat to the other’s goal, so the play was confined to the middle of the field.
Barcelona managed to adjust the result in the last minute of the original time of the first half, when the ball was played inside the Real Madrid penalty area, the defense pushed it away to reach Rafinha, who hit a powerful ball that hit the Real Madrid defenders before it reached Sergi Roberto inside the penalty area, to hit a powerful ball that hit the net, Then the referee blew the whistle at the end of the first half, imposing a 1/1 tie between the two teams. And with the start of the second half, specifically in the 47th minute, Real Madrid almost scored the goal of progress, when Vinicius Jr. penetrated the ball from the left side, and passed a cross that reached Federico Valverde, who met it with a strong shot, but it passed next to the left post.
After that attack, Barcelona took possession of the ball and intensified its offensive attempts in search of scoring the goal of progress, while Real retreated to the center of its stadium and relied on launching counter-attacks whenever it had the opportunity. However, the two teams failed to pose any danger to the other’s goal, so the play was confined to the midfield until the 59th minute, which witnessed a dangerous opportunity for Barcelona when Lewandowski hit a powerful ball that hit the foot of Eder Militau, the Real defender, and passed near the left post for a corner kick that was not used.
Real responded in the 63rd minute, when Sergio Busquets made a mistake in passing the ball, so Dani Carvajal cut it with a pass to Rodrigo, who met it with a powerful shot, but it came far from the goal.
Lewandowski almost scored Barcelona’s second goal in the 67th minute, when Busquets passed an accidental ball from the right side, which Lewandowski met with a double backhand kick, but it passed away from goal.
In the 81st minute, Real Madrid scored a goal that was canceled by the referee, when Rodrigo launched the ball from the left side and passed it to Dani Carvajal on the right side, to pass a cross that Marco Asensio met with a powerful shot into the goal, but the referee returned to the video assistant referee technique and canceled the goal due to Asensio offside.
The play became a debate between the two teams in the final minutes of the match until the second minute of stoppage time came to the match, which saw Barcelona score the second goal, when Alex Balde crossed a ball from the left, which Frank Casey met with a powerful shot into the goal.
The remaining time of the second half passed without anything new before the referee blew the whistle at the end of the match, with Barcelona’s victory over Real Madrid 2/1.
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