Defeating Real, Barca is close to the La Liga throne
Barca won all three Real matches in 2023. Before the confrontation in La Liga yesterday, Xavi's teachers and students defeated Real 3-1 in the final of the Spanish Super Cup and 1-0 in the semi-final first leg of the King's Cup. . This is the first time Barca has won three consecutive El Clasico matches in all competitions since January 2012, under Pep Guardiola.
Victory at Camp Nou also helps Barca take a long step in toppling rivals in La Liga. They reached 68 points, 12 points more than Real, when the season had 12 rounds left. The two teams have one El Clasico match left in the semi-final second leg of the King's Cup on April 5.
True to coach Carlo Ancelotti's pre-match statement, Real attacked with full force right from the opening. At 23 seconds, midfielder Federico Valverde stole the ball and passed it to Karim Benzema with a left footed shot from outside the box but goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen caught it.
In the 3rd minute, Barca responded with a turn and shot with Robert Lewandowski's right foot from a distance of nearly 30 meters, forcing goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois to push the ball. Two minutes later, the Belgian goalkeeper continued to block Raphinha's cross-corner header from Sergio Busquets' forte.
Wasted two delicious opportunities, Barca immediately paid the price. In the 9th minute, receiving the ball from Eduardo Camavinga, Vinicius led to close to the touchline and then stretched the Araujo dam to change direction to the near corner, causing Ter Stegen to miss. It was the first own goal in an El Clasico in La Liga in the 21st century, and Barca's first in an El Clasico in all competitions since Gerard Pique scored at home in the Spanish Super Cup back. August 2017.
After that, Barca took over the game and continuously threatened the opponent's goal. In the 24th minute, Raphinha crossed the ball on the left wing for Andreas Christensen to head diagonally into the column. Less than ten minutes later, the Denmark midfielder missed again with an impromptu heel strike close to the goal that was captured by Courtois, from a corner on the right. In the 34th minute, Raphinha took the ball from the right wing to cut into the middle and then finished his left foot, which Courtois pushed all the way across.
Barca's efforts paid off in the 45th minute. From Araujo's right wing cross, Frenkie De Jong made a wall for Raphinha to put the left foot of a Real player. The ball went to Sergi Roberto's position and after a rhythm of control, the Spaniard shot with his right foot diagonally to equalize the score. Roberto has scored four goals in 17 La Liga games this season, equal to all four in the previous four seasons (four in 83 games).
In the second half, Real created a more balanced game with opportunities belonging to Federico Valverde, Luka Modric, Rodrygo Goes, Vinicius and Karim Benzema respectively. In the 81st minute, Dani Carvajal put the ball into the penalty area from the right wing for the substitute striker Marco Asensio to cushion the left foot to the near corner, making Ter Stegen stuck. But VAR stepped in and denied the goal because Asensio was offside.
The decisive goal came in the second minute of compensation, when Robert Lewandowski jerked his heel to let Alejandro Balde cross to the left and then stretched for Franck Kessie to cushion the near corner, sealing a 2-1 victory. With 91 minutes and 2 seconds, Kessie's goal was Barca's latest decisive goal at El Clasico in La Liga, since Lionel Messi in the 3-2 win at the Bernabeu in April 2017, at 91 minutes and 48 seconds.
