Real Madrid 2-3 Barcelona
Lionel Messi scored a last-minute winner to blow La Liga wide open in an El Clasico which will live long in the memory.
This was one of the best football games I’ve seen for quite some time, with two of the finest teams in the world playing with verve and dynamism from start to finish.
At a packed and passionate Bernabeu, the players put on a magnificent show, not least the two keepers. The win lifts Barca to the top as Messi hit his 500th goal, and betting odds on the title returning to the Camp Nou plummeted.
In a first half of outstanding football, Brazilian midfielder Casemiro put Real ahead on 28 minutes after Marcelo teed up Sergio Ramos; and when the skipper’s shot came back off the post Casemiro was on the spot to score.
But the lead lasted just five minutes before Lionel Messi turned on the style, accepting a ball from Ivan Rakitic before jinking past two defenders and firing low to beat Real keeper Keylor Navas.
Both keepers were tested early in the second half as Karim Benzema thought he’d scored for Real, only to be denied by the boot of Ter Stegen; and Gerard Pique tested Navas with a bullet header. In a breathtaking passage of play, Cristiano Ronaldo stunned the stadium when he missed a sitter on 66 minutes and a minute later Luis Suarez almost volleyed Barca in front.
Then Ivan Rakitic hit a 20-yard beauty on 72 minutes, prompting Coach Luis Enrique to leap off the bench. Ronaldo had another clear chance to level but Ter Stegen was on hand again.
Sergio Ramos lost his head and copped a straight red after going in two-footed on Lionel Messi. And then Navas denied Pique again with a brilliant save before James Rodriguez fired home to seemingly give the ten men of Madrid a crucial point.
But Messi was on the spot with almost the last kick of the game to fire the winner superbly after another great Barca move.
Lionel Messi is simply the best.
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