The real El Clasico between Barcelona and Real Madrid is still a week away. But the two teams did meet in the Mediterranean International Cup final on Saturday night – a tournament for youth teams.
The Category D match was a mini-Clasico in itself and Barcelona dominated the game to eventually take home the prize. Led by Marc Serra, the La Masia boys won the game 2-0 on the night with both goals coming in the second half.
While Barcelona won the tie, the man of the match (boy of the match?) was Real Madrid goalkeeper Angel. He made a number of saves to deny the Catalan youngsters a chance on goal with even the post coming to the rescue.
Barca tried their best and even thought they had a chance to take the lead when Bobi was brought down inside the box. But as much as they protested, the referee did not award a penalty.
Even in the second half a penalty was denied to Barcelona when Pablo Lopez was brought down. Angel came to the rescue again when he made a superb save from Pol to deny Barca a goal.
However, they eventually took the lead from a set piece when a ball was delivered into the box and flicked on for Marc Jurado to head into the opposite corner with the goalkeeper unable to do anything about it. The opening goal saw delirious celebrations from the Catalan club and they soon doubled the lead.
When Barcelona received another free-kick after a foul outside the box, Toni Caravaca lobbed the ball straight into the top corner – a sensational goal. It’s hard to blame the keeper considering he is half the goal’s size and probably needed a step-ladder to reach that.
As the final whistle blew, the Madrid players sank to their knees while Barcelona celebrated with another trophy to add to their collection.
