The games between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid are always filled with goals, emotions, and great football. The season’s first three El Clásico games between the Spanish titans all ended with Barcelona on top. Even though Real desperately wanted for that not to be the case during their last game, there was no stopping the hungry Catalans.
Things did not start off so well for Barcelona. Three minutes after the game began, Kylian Mbappe found himself alone with Wojeciech Szczęsny. In a desperate attempt to prevent a change in the score, the goalkeeper threw himself into the French player’s legs. A penalty was given to the team from Madrid and it was Mbappe himself who converted it into a goal.
The situation went from bad to worse as, soon after, Mbappe once again only had Szczęsny separating him from scoring. Before the first 15 minutes of the game could pass, Barcelona had already conceded two goals. It was a dream start for Los Blancos and a nightmare for their opponents.
Barcelona did not let Real celebrate their successes for long. As soon as the situation began looking truly dangerous, they increased the tempo of their actions and pushed much harder than they had before. Five minutes after Mbappe’s second goal, a corner was given to Barcelona. Thanks to Eric Garcia’s beautiful header, it was easily converted into a contact goal.
The change in score invigorated the Catalan team, a fact that was reflected in all the statistics. One of the most telling ones was the amount of corners each team had collected. By the 27th minute, Barca had eight. The already impressive number only looked better when compared to Real’s zero.
Lamine Yamal looked great during Barcelona’s match against Inter Milan but could not seem to put the ball in the opponent’s net. When facing Real, he was determined not to make the same mistake. Half an hour after the game began, he did what he set out to do and scored the equalising goal.
Before the cheers of the fans gathered at the Olympic Stadium could die down, Raphinha gave them one more reason to celebrate. After Lucas Vazquez and Mbappe bumped into each other, the ball was seemingly lost, and it was the Brazilian player who got to it the quickest. He went on to easily beat Thibaut Courtois and put his team in the lead for the first time since the game began.
That wasn’t the end of Raphinha’s great performance. Right as regular time ended, Ferran Torres managed to steal the ball away from Vazquez and pass it to the Brazilian. Raphinha wasted no time before converting the chance into another beautiful goal.
Six minutes was added to the first half. It seemed like Real might be able to score the contact goal as right before the extra time ran out, Mbappe tore through Barcelona’s defence and put the ball in Szczęsny’s net. Thankfully for all Culers, he was offside. The Catalan team went into the break with a lead of 4:2.
Despite their good position, Barcelona did not ease up as the second half began. They continued pushing Real and noting great chances at increasing their lead. In the 52nd minute they even manged to score, but the the goal was disallowed, giving Los Blancos some room to breathe.
Hope returned to Real Madrid when Mbappe’s and Vinicius’ teamwork led to the coveted contact goal. Since it was the Frenchman who put it in Szczęsny’s net, he had made it a hat-trick at the Olympic Stadium. Great as the moment was, it still did not put the team in the position to score any points.
The last minutes of the game saw some controversial decisions being made by the referee. With ten minutes of regular time to go, Barcelona saw another chance to increase their lead. Yamal’s shot was blocked by Courtois, and the ball bounced straight underneath Torres’ legs. He shot it back at the goal, only for it to be blocked by Aurelien Tchouameni’s arm. After a VAR check, the referee decided not to give Blaugrana the penalty. According to him, Tchouameni’s hand was positioned naturally. While the Culers gathered at the stadium laudly voiced their disappointment, the game continued.
In the 95th minute of the game, Fermin Lopez, who had replaced Dani Olmo on the field, scored a beautiful and, as it would seem, game-winning goal for his team. He immediately began celebrating with his teammates, but the happiness turned out to be premature. The referee used VAR to check a potential hand by the goal-scorer himself and, after a short inspection, disallowed the goal.
The last minute of the match passed with the loud booing of Barcelona’s fans as the background noise. There was nothing Real could do against the angered Blaugrana and soon after, the last whistle cut their hopes of scoring any points. The game ended with a score of 4:3.
Barcelona did not let their recent loss in the Champions League get them down. They showed that they are still a team to look out for and crushed Real’s hopes of winning the La Liga. Barca is now 7 points ahead of Real, and with only three rounds to go, they have a great chance of taking the title.
If you love sports, download Stadium Rant from the Apple App Store and join one of the fastest-growing social sports communities. Be sure to follow us on socials too — you can find all our profiles on our Linktree.
