Real Madrid earned some revenge for the 4-0 defeat earlier in the season, as Los Blancos stunned Barcelona 2-1 at the Nou Camp. Gerard Pique gave Barcelona the lead from a corner, but Karim Benzema scored a stunning overhead kick to equalize for Madrid in the second half.
Gareth Bale had a goal wrongly disallowed before Sergio Ramos was sent off for a second yellow, but Cristiano Ronaldo scored in the 82nd minute to give Real Madrid the win.
Lineups
Barcelona XI (4-3-3): Bravo; Dani Alves, Pique, Mascherano, Jordi Alba; Rakitic, Busquets, Iniesta; Messi, Suarez, Neymar.
Real Madrid XI (4-3-3): Navas; Carvajal, Sergio Ramos, Pepe, Marcelo; Modric, Casemiro, Kroos; Bale, Benzema, Cristiano Ronaldo.
First Half: Referee takes centre-stage with questionable decisions
This was a rather momentous El Clasico, albeit for tragic reasons, as Barcelona paid tribute to recently deceased legend Johan Cruyff with an emotional video that was played on the screens at the Nou Camp before the game.
With nary a dry eye in the crowd, the minute’s silence was impeccably observed by both sets of fans. As the game kicked off, the competitive nature soon came to the fore, with Pepe and Busquets clashing in the 2nd minute.
However, it was the referee who took centre-stage in the 10th minute as Neymar and Suarez were offside by a mile from a long ball and the decision wasn’t given. Barcelona nearly compounded the referee’s error by scoring from the move as Neymar collected the long ball and squared for Suarez who only had to tap home, but incredibly missed from two yards out.
Sergio Ramos went into the book for his protests and his hot-headedness nearly came to haunt him later on. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the 14th minute saw a moment of applause for Johan Cruyff. Real Madrid nearly spoiled the party with Bale’s cross being blocked by Pique with Ronaldo and Benzema lurking.
Dani Carvajal went into the book soon after as Keylor Navas made a wonderful save from Rakitic as Barcelona exerted their dominance. The flashpoint of the first half came midway, as Sergio Ramos tackled Messi on the edge of the penalty box, but referee Hernandez Hernandez awarded nothing, with Luis Enrique going apoplectic on the sidelines.
Suarez and Mascherano went into the book for rather soft fouls as the referee further incensed the partisan crowd at the Nou Camp. As the first half came to an end, Real Madrid had a great chance to take a shock lead, as Benzema was in acres of space in the box, but volleyed Carvajal’s cross into the stands, thus resulting in a goalless first half.
Second Half: BBC inspire Real Madrid to victory
Real Madrid ot the second half underway with a strong start as Mascherano denied Benzema with an excellent tackle. Messi stung the plams of Navas soon after as the sides traded chances in the start of the second half.
Gerard Pique opened the scoring from a corner to give Barcelona the lead in the 54th minute. The Barcelona centre-back has been the bane of many a Madridista, and he was the tormentor in chief as he ran away from Pepe to leap high into the air and power a towering header into the near post.
Real Madrid inspite of going behind did not let their heads drop as they equalised just 6 minutes after Pique’s opening goal through an acrobatic effort from Karim Benzema. The Frenchman was almost anonymous throughout the match but he popped up right when required to convert Kroos’ deflected cross in spectacular fashion.
After the equaliser, Madrid looked much more threatening than Barcelona and Los Blancos were unlucky to go ahead when a Gareth Bale header was incorrectly ruled out for a foul on Jordi Alba. Replays suggested that Barcelona were very lucky to get off so lightly.
Soon after that incident, Ramos got a second yellow card for a rash challenge on Luis Suarez. With their captain sent off and a goal disallowed, Real Madrid might be forgiven for feeling that it was not going to be their day, but they fought back superbly to grab the winner.
Jese who was bought on for Benzema released the excellent Gareth Bale and his high looping cross was controlled brilliantly on the chest by none other than Cristiano Ronaldo who finished it with aplomb.10 men Madrid took the lead thanks to the goal from their talisman and they held on for the remaining few minutes to record a historic victory.
This victory meant that Zidane became the first manager since Schuster in 2007 to win his very first Clasico. It was a memorable night for Real Madrid fans indeed.
Additional reporting by Ashwin Hanagudu
