Real madrid wins the classic against Barcelona by 2-1, under the rain in Madrid, a combative soccer match full of emotions and scoring chances for both teams was played, the Madrid whites continue with a positive campaign and with this victory they are positioned as a strong candidate to win the Spanish soccer league.
Zinedine Zidane a great estrategy
After the great victory obtained by Real Madrid in the Champion’s Cup against Liverpool, the French coach put Federico Valverde on the pitch in place of Marco Asensio, to ensure greater pressure when recovering the ball and explosion when creating counterattacks, A move that paid off quickly in the match, since in the 13th minute it was the Uruguayan who started the play on the right flank, opening the way for Lucas Vázquez who threw a pass to Karim Benzema, who converted one of the most beautiful goals in the history of the classic.
The madridistas took the lead, but did not fall behind and doubled their advantage in minute 28. A wonderful play by Vinicius Jr. saw him brought down by Araujo on the edge of the area. Kroos stepped up to take the free kick and the ball crashed into the goal destination, while Jordi Alba was unable to clear the ball with his head, the score was 2-0 in favor of the madridistas.
“We are at the limit physically. Today was a tremendous game, but that’s soccer and that’s what we have to face now, but the feeling is better when you finish with three points. We’re not going to change anything, we have to keep going because we haven’t won anything yet. It’s one game, three points and nothing has changed, we are in the fight like the rest of the teams”.
says Zidane
Barcelona attempted a comeback against the headwind
In the second half Ronald Koeman introduced Antoine Griezmann to give more offensive volume to the team, suddenly in the Alfredo di Estefano Stadium in Valdevevas the torrential rain began to fall and the wind in Barcelona’s face gave another chance to Madrid when Valverde crashed a shot into the right post and on the rebound Lucas Vazques could not overcome the resistance of Ter Stegen who with his reflexes managed to clear the ball.
In the 60th minute of play, freeing the fullbacks as they did in the old days, Jordi Alba got to the back line and sent in a cross that Griezman cleverly let through for Oscar Mingueza to unorthodoxly score the equalizer, a goal by a homegrown player that revived hopes of a comeback for the blaugranas.
A postcard of Messi fighting against the cold of madrid
Cheering like a true leader to his teammates Messi led the actions of his team with the need to overcome the cold, he changed his heavy clothes wet by the rain to try to find the warmth of his frequent goals in the classics, he had several free kick opportunities but his shots failed to overcome the resistance of Courtois who had the help of the right post that cleared what could be the first Messi’s first Olympic goal.
The match was still up in the air when Los Blancos came close again in the 76th minute with a cross-shot from Odriozola that Ter Stegen deflected behind for a corner. Casemiro was sent off for a second yellow card in the 90th minute as the home side tried to defend their lead with the game red-hot until the final play of the game, when Ilaix rattled the crossbar in the last play of the game. Luck was on the side of the Merengue side.
“We are still in both competitions, we are in the Champions League and we want to keep fighting and winning. We may have problems, but we should not fear anything, we have to believe in the work we are doing. We are still in both competitions and we have to keep working hard. The team is at the limit and we have to rest for Wednesday’s match, which will be very difficult”.
Zidane concluded
Madrid came out of the Clasico with flying colors and are now focused on the second leg of the Champions League quarterfinals against Liverpool in a very positive season, as the victory over their biggest rivals revives Real’s intentions of becoming La Liga champions.
@alex-martinez Fuente: Real Madrid Oficial
