Real Madrid traveled to Catalunya to take on FC Barcelona as the La Liga season comes to a close. Here’s a quick recap of the match.
First Half
The opening 45 minutes were extremely aggressive from both teams with a wealthy of scraps and poor tackles. Just 10 minutes into the match, Barcelona opened up the scoring through Luis Suarez. With Marcelo missing out on his defensive duties, Sergi Roberto flew up the right wing whipping in a pinpoint cross. Lionel Messi drew in both Sergio Ramos and Nacho, leaving Luis Suarez wide open to finish the cross one time at the far post.
Just five minutes later, Cristiano Ronaldo would level the match with a sacrificial play on the ball. A neat header across the face of goal from Karim Benzema set up Ronaldo to put the ball home. The goal came at a cost as Ronaldo was tackled by Gerard Pique and rolled his ankle on the play.
From this point on, Madrid dominated the play but not the possession. The last 15 minutes of the match saw the referee hand out four yellow cards. On the brink of half-time, Sergi Roberto was shown a straight red after slapping Marcelo.
Second-Half
Zinedine Zidane took out Cristiano Ronaldo and replaced him with Marco Asensio. Less than 10 minutes into the half, ten-man Barca would take the lead through Lionel Messi’s goal. 20 minutes later, Gareth Bale came up big for Real Madrid as he leveled the scoreline once again.
The second-half saw Madrid robbed by an opportunity to win the match with Marcelo being taken down in the box. With the game still heating up, Bale and Marcelo picked up yellow cards.
Keylor Navas had an incredible performance coming up big with saves on Messi and company. Navas kept his team in the game as Barcelona broke through time after time on goal.
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On the bright side of this draw, Karim Benzema and Casemiro did well. Karim dropped deep and showed he still has some pace as he ran up the flanks numerous times. Casemiro, on the other hand, did well to stop through balls and intercept dangerous passes.
Toni Kroos was also incredible as he did well to move the ball into the middle of the park with smart passing to feed the front three. This was by no means a horrible performance by Real Madrid, it really was a poorly officiated match.
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