Real Madrid have won the Clasico on the pitch of Barcelona by the smallest difference. A line from Daniel Alaba after half an hour was enough for the victory, Barcelona could not come alongside in a frustrating second half and swallowed a second goal on the counter in stoppage time. Aguëro mellowed, Barcelona did not go further than 1-2.
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The 247th Clasico started with one Belgian on the field. Thibaut Courtois was, as usual, between the posts at the visiting Real Madrid. After new injury troubles, Eden Hazard made his return to the selection at De Koninklijke, but the Red Devil started the game on the bench.
The match was completely locked in the opening quarter. Barcelona signed for the first big chance of the game, but Sergiño Dest kicked incomprehensibly over Thibaut Courtois’ goal. On the other side, Vinicius claimed a penalty, but the referee did not want to hear about it.
Real Madrid took the lead after half an hour. David Alaba some space and lashed out hard with the left. Ter Stegen had no story: 0-1.
De Blaugrana reacted but Geard Pique saw a header go just wide. In the second half, Barcelona then threw Coutinho into the fray. The Brazilian’s input brought improvement and the Blaugrana went looking for the equalizer, but the best chances fell on the other side. Benzema, however, let the 0-2 lie.
Unmature Barcelona
Barcelona were able to prepare less and less as the second half progressed. Sergio Aguero was also thrown into the fray. The Argentinian was quickly dangerous, although his header could not really alarm Courtois. There were some worried faces a little later when Courtois grabbed the support leg after kicking the ball and went to the ground, but luckily the damage to the Red Devil was not too bad. Courtois quickly climbed back to his feet and finished the match.
In the final minutes Depay had a great chance, but Barcelona instead got the lid on their nose: Asensio was able to counter and hit Ter Stegen, in the rebound it was hit for Lucas Vazquez: 0-2. Match played, Aguero’s goal in the 97th minute was just for the statistics. Final score: 1-2.
In the standings, Real Madrid takes the lead along with Sevilla and Real Sociedad: the three clubs each have 20 points after nine games, although Sociedad will play against Atlético Madrid later tonight. That is 3 points less. Barcelona is eighth with 15 points.
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