Real best Barca 2:1 at home
On Sunday, the 26th of October, Real Madrid hosted the first Clásico of the season. Both Xavi Alonso and Hansi Flick brought star studded line-ups, however Flick’s team was plagued by many prominent absences; even Flick himself had to watch the game from the press area after receiving a red card in the match against FC Girona last week.
Barcelona fought hard to gain an advantage, but fell short when going up against the home team’s strong defence.
The match had many memorable moments: the first being a goal from Mbappé in the 12th minute. This was called off-side by referee Soto, leading many fans in the stadium to question him after not calling a foul on Vini Jr. despite consulting the VAR. Mbappé was able to get his revenge roughly ten minutes later (22’), and this time the goal counted.
However, Fermín Lopez managed to draw the game in the 38’, much to the displeasure of the home crowd.
In the 40’ minute, Vini Jr. was rushing towards the goal with no defender in sight to stop him, so Pedri felt the need to stop him by yanking him to the ground by his jersey. This action earned him a yellow card.
It seemed to be the last big action of the halftime, but Bellingham managed to push Real Madrid back ahead with a beautiful shot on goal in the 43’.
The second half of the match didn’t show any goals but wasn’t any less spectacular. Mbappé missed a penalty in the 52’, which was very unusual for the Frenchman.
Pedri was awarded a second yellow card (99’) and was sent off. After that pandemonium broke out in front of Courtois’ goal, leading to a fight – both on the pitch and on the sidelines.
The chaos was so loud the final whistle could hardly be heard.
After the match, Soto handed out five more yellow cards, Militao, Vini Jr., Torres, Balde, Rodrygo, and even a red card for Madrid’s second keeper Lunin.
Overall, Barcelona can consider themselves lucky the game only ended with 2:1. Real Madrid now lead the league by five points, ahead of the Catalan team, a welcome change from last season’s Clásico outcomes.
(This post was originally posted in October, but was reposted due to technical issues that couldn’t be fixed. Therefore I re-uploaded the original version anyway)
