Barca steals victory in Clasico showdown against Madrid, deals critical blow in title rac

Sunday, Franck Kessie’s late goal gave Barcelona a 2-1 Clasico victory over Real Madrid, putting them 12 points ahead of Real Madrid at the top of La Liga.

Madrid’s hopes of winning the title are dashed by this victory, and the Catalans are very close to winning it for the first time since 2019.

Ronald Araujo’s own goal gave Carlo Ancelotti’s Real the lead, but Sergi Roberto’s goal just before halftime brought Barcelona level.

The two sides had opportunities to dominate the match and Marco Asensio struck for Madrid, however the objective was administered offside by VAR, before Alejandro Balde set up Kessie in the 92nd moment.

Sergi Roberto told Movistar, “We came from a Marco Asensio goal that we didn’t know was offside and from losing, we scored Franck’s goal, and the truth is it tastes a little bit better, winning like that in the last minute.”

“You can never give Madrid up for dead with a lot of games left. 12 points is a difficult distance to cover, but we can do it, which is good.

In the “Caso Negreira” refereeing scandal, Barcelona’s corruption charge overshadowed the match’s preparations.

Last week, Madrid joined the complaint filed by Spanish prosecutors against Barcelona. Madrid’s president, Florentino Perez, skipped the game for the first time in over 20 years, as tensions between the two Spanish giants are rising.

This increased the intensity of the match, both on and off the field, in Xavi’s sixth Clasico as coach of Barcelona, but only his first at Camp Nou.

One of the best atmospheres of the season was created when Xavi asked fans to turn the stadium into a pressure cooker. They did so, selling it out, cheering for Madrid to take possession, and so on.

Karim Benzema stung Marc-Andre ter Stegen’s palms in the first minute of Madrid’s Copa del Rey semi-final first-leg defeat by Barcelona. Madrid had no shots on goal in that match.

At the other end, Robert Lewandowski put Thibaut Courtois to the test by firing shots at him.

It was friendly fire when Barcelona gave up the game’s first goal. Ter Stegen was helpless as Araujo deflected Vinicius’ cross in at the near post.

In the past, Araujo, who is playing right back to counter the Brazilian, has enjoyed fighting Vinicius, but this time the winger won, albeit by accident.

Barcelona allies became angered by his vehement festival before them.

It was only Barcelona’s second strike at home and their ninth overall goal from open play at Camp Nou during the La Liga season.