FC Barcelona 2-2 Real Madrid: 3 things that Barcelona did right

#2 Substitutions

Roberto's red card was a pivotal moment

Valverde has often been criticized this season for his rotation of the squad and his substitutions, particularly their timings. If anything, this match had the potential to turn into one just the Roma second leg in UCL for Barca - man down, unbeaten run on a stake, Madrid smelled blood.

However, kudos to Valverde for replacing firstly Coutinho with Nelson Semedo and then later Iniesta with Paulinho. While it was apparent that either of them had to be sacrificed, but it was the order in which they were substituted off was what made the difference.

Taking off Coutinho first and Andres Iniesta later gave Barcelona a few moments of midfield control in the second half and that made all the difference.

Had it been the other way round, I doubt that Barcelona would have come out with all guns blazing as they did in the match.