Barca win at Bernabeu again

Barcelona held on after going ahead through an Ivan Rakitic goal to win another El Clasico encounter -- this time in La Liga -- against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu inside three days, having already knocked the side from the captial out of the Spanish Copa del Rey earlier in the week with a 3-0 thrashing.

The Catalans moved 12 points clear of Real Madrid with that 1-0 win. A sharp one-two between Rakitic and Sergi Roberto saw the former race clear of the Madrid defence before dinking the ball over the onrushing Thibaut Courtois for the first and only goal of the game. 

With this win, Barca have now won three out of this season’s four Clasicos against their arch rivals. The win also put them ahead 96-95 in Clasico wins against Real Madrid -- the first time that the Catalans have led in 87 years – while they also clinched their 11th win at the Bernabeu in their last 17 meetings at the Spanish Capital.

In the biggest game of any La Liga season, Real captain Sergio Ramos and Barca captain Lionel Messi had their own sets of clashes with Ramos once too often taking risks to keep the Barcelona talisman from impacting the game.

Things unraveled when towards the death end of the first half, Messi went down clutching his face after collusion with the inevitable Sergio Ramos, who appeared to have struck the Argentine in the face with his forearm during the process of winning a 50-50 ball. Messi eventually got up and squared upto Ramos, raging, as the two players exchanged words before pushing their foreheads against each other.

The referee chose not to card the Spaniard and Ramos would take advantage of that opportunity to put in some more niggling tackles as the game progressed.

The game was in stark difference to the one played at the Bernabeu between this two fierce rivals just a few days ago. Real Madrid were more desperate, hoping to claw their way back in La Liga by dealing a blow to the league leaders. Barcelona fared much better than their last outing, organising themselves much better against their arch-rivals with midfielder Arthur Melo making a return to the side after sitting a few matches out due to an injury.

Early exchanges saw the game move forward at a fast pace and Real created opportunities. Barcelona fought back with their own brand of pass-and-move football to keep Real at bay and keep control. As Barcelona started to find their feet, Real’s problems of not having enough in the attacking sense compounded with Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema and the fullbacks’ contribution constantly declining through the match.

Vinicius Junior was once again their most lively threat but Gerard Pique pulled out one of his best performances to keep Real at bay. Messi’s influence on the game began to show as the match progressed. He dragged a few markers with him in midfield as Rakitic made a darting run before a fine finish. Real resorted to shots from distance but the Catalans held on despite a few nervy moments.