La Liga: Defending champs Real Madrid bounce back with win at Barcelona

Real Madrid made mild of their ongoing struggles on the pitch as they outplayed bitter rivals Barcelona 3-1 at Camp Nou with targets from Federico Valverde, skipper Sergio Ramos and Croatian veteran Luka Modric within the seaason’s first El Clasico on Saturday. Having misplaced back-to-back video games towards Cadiz and Shakhtar Donesk, Zindedine’s Zidane Real put in a much-improved show at hand Barcelona their second straight La Liga defeat.

Ronald Koeman, for whom it was the primary Clasico as Barca head coach, began Ansu Fati leaving each Antoine Griezmann and Ousmane Dembele on the bench. Fati impressed, scoring Barca’s solely purpose and in addition helped create just a few probabilities.

It wasn’t sufficient as Barcelona stayed winless of their third straight league sport, having misplaced to Getafe and drawn towards Sevilla earlier than that. Koeman later vented his frustration at VAR, over a game-changing second on the hour mark when defending champions Real had been awarded a penalty for a foul on Ramos. “I don’t understand VAR, every decision goes against Barcelona,” he stated.

Zidane, alternatively, insisted the win was not about shutting up critics after Real’s latest struggles. “We created enough opportunities. We could’ve scored four or five goals,” he stated.

It didn’t take lengthy for fireworks within the first Clasico behind closed doorways after the Covid-19 outbreak. With lower than 5 minutes on the clock, full-back Nacho handed to Karim Benzema in the midst of the opposition half. The Frenchman noticed a run by Uruguayan midfielder Valverde and promptly slipped the ball to him close to the sting of the field, leaving Barcelona centre-back Gerard Pique stranded in between.

Valverde shot into the highest nook throughout the purpose to offer Real the lead. Three minutes later, Barca pulled stage. Dropping deeper after the purpose, Lionel Messi made a right away influence. Finding the ball close to the left flank within the center, he lobbed it to Jordi Alba who had sneaked into the ultimate third with out being observed by potential markers Marco Asensio and Nacho. Fati tapped Alba’s cut-back previous Thibaut Courtois.

Just because the tempo of the sport appeared to have calmed, each side got here near scoring once more within the 23rd minute. Barca keeper Neto, one of many membership’s three Clasico debutants alongside Pedri and Sergino Dest, initiated a counter that discovered Messi on the different finish. The Argentine star acquired the ball and spun previous a helpless Ramos to get a sight of purpose. However, Messi’s shot on the close to put up was saved by Courtois. Seconds later, Toni Kroos discovered Benzema on the different finish of the pitch however the ahead’s shot was met with a effective save by Neto.

Early within the second half, it was Barca who appeared extra prone to rating. The Catalans had a golden probability to go forward within the 54th minute when Fati, who had shot extensive simply a few minutes earlier than, put a pinpoint cross in for Philippe Coutinho. Only for the Brazilian to go extensive.

The sport turned on its head 5 minutes later when Ramos was seen interesting vigorously for a penalty after taking place inside Barca’s field throughout a corner-kick. Replays confirmed Clement Lenglet pulling the Real skipper’s shirt. The referee, after a VAR test, pointed to the spot.

Ramos himself stepped as much as take the penalty and scored previous Neto’s proper. It was the Spaniard’s 100th purpose for Real Madrid in all competitions, a powerful return for a centre-back.

Koeman didn’t react instantly and waited till the final 10 minutes to ring in modifications. He launched Antoine Griezmann, Trincao, Ousmane Dembele and Martin Brathwaite. It didn’t work.

Instead, it was Real who took benefit of house in Barcelona’s center and again third so as to add to the house workforce’s distress. In the 85th minute, Neto produced three fast saves – a double try from Kroos and a left-footed volley from Ramos – to maintain the hosts within the sport. Five minutes later, Real put the sport past Barca’s attain.

With Vinicius Jr chasing a by means of ball, Neto rushed out to avert hazard. His clearance discovered substitute Rodrygo, who handed to fellow substitute Modric to attain.

There was little Barca may do to salvage the sport after that. That Messi acquired a reserving for dissent in stoppage time summed up a irritating night for him and the workforce.