On what was goalkeepers’ day, Lionel Messi’s thrilling finish in the injury time stole a 3-2 victory against the 10-man Real Madrid. Messi netted twice (33’ and 90’+2’) in this game while Ivan Rakitic (73’) was the other goal scorer for Barcelona.
On the other hand, Casemiro (28’) and James Rodríguez (85’) were the goal scorers for the hosts Real Madrid while Sergio Ramos was sent off on 77 minutes.
It was almost a must-win game for Barcelona to stay in the fight for La Liga 2016/17 trophy while at least a draw was enough for Real Madrid to stay in the comfort zone for winning the Spanish league. With this victory, Barcelona climbed up on top of the league table with 75 points while Real Madrid slipped down in the second place with the same points but lesser points on head-to-head. However, Real Madrid has still one game advantage, as the Whites (32 matches played in La Liga 2016/17) has played one game lesser than the Catalonia club (33 matches played in La Liga 2016/17).
With the return of Gareth Bale to the side, the hosts began the day with a 4-3-3 formation.
In the meantime, Barcelona’s starting formation was 4-3-1-2 with the absence of Neymar due to suspension. Paco Alcacer was selected to play forward along with Luis Suarez.
Real Madrid started with some dominant football in early action. There was a huge penalty appeal from the hosts’ side in early 4 minutes after Umtiti hit on Ronaldo’s foot inside the penalty box, but the officials rejected.
On 7 minutes, Ronaldo had the first on target shot from outside the box which was successfully caught by Barca goalie (Marc-Andre Ter Stegen).
The visitors took some time to get used to conditions though they a chance of their own in the 11th minute. Jordi Alba put a good ball for Suarez whose shot from outside the box that ran wide of the goal.
After that, both the teams tried to find out open spaces. The first tough challenge for the goalkeepers came from Ronaldo as the Portuguese’s shot (20’) was saved by Ter Stegen with a diving effort.
With the continuous attack, Real opened the scoreline on 28 minutes with the Casemiro’s finish. Marcelo produced a ball in the front of goal which found Ramos. Ramos’ shot was hit the post and went to the front Casemiro who made no mistake to convert that the chance.
Barcelona didn’t take much time to make a comeback in the match as they scored just 5 minutes later. It was a great teamwork which Messi finished with his superb typical style after beating few defenders inside the penalty box. It was Messi’s first score after his goalless run in the last six El Clasico.
Just a few minutes before that goal, Casemiro was lucky to escape the second booking in the match. After receiving the first booking on 12 minutes, he tapped on Messi’s foot which had put him into some trouble. However, he was survived from the second booking at that time.
On 34 minutes, Ter Stegen made a great save to deny another lead for the hosts. From the outside the box, Modric produced a powerful shot towards the top right corner of the net but Ter Stegen made a superb diving save at that dangerous situation.
Bale had an off day on the field. Making a return in this match from an injury, Bale suffered from another muscle injury just before the 40 minutes mark of the first half. As a resulted, he went off the field just before 5 minutes left in the first half. Marco Asensio was used as a substitute for him in that case.
Messi missed a great opportunity just before the end of the first half. Navas failed to make any contact on the following corner, which produced a great chance for Messi with an open space in a few distance. However, Messi failed to put that on target as the first half was ended with a 1-1 scoreline.
Like the first half save, Ter Stegen made another superb save at the early second half (48’). Toni Kroos made a great strike from outside the box towards the bottom left corner which was pushed back by the German goalie at outside the post.
On 54 minutes, Marcelo put an excellent cross for Benzema whose header was saved by Ter Stegen with his left foot.
Few minutes after that, Real Madrid goalie Keylor Navas made some great saves for his team. At first, Navas denied a great chance for Paco Alcacer after making a save with his right foot.
In the next, Navas kept out a great attempt from Pique. Pique connected a good header from a corner-kick which superbly saved by the Costa Rican goalkeeper.
On 67 minutes, Ronaldo had a great chance to finish an Asensio’s delivery which he ultimately failed. Ronaldo failed to make a perfect shot on a great delivery from Asensio, as the ball went well over the post.
Inside the next 60 seconds, Iniesta produced a good cross for Suarez whose shot was superbly blocked by Navas once again. After few seconds, Navas made another great save and that was the outside the box shot from Messi towards the top corner.
Finally, Rakitic broke the deadlock with a stunning finish. Messi put a pass for the Croatian who took a shot from outside the box, finally, that shot defeated Navas as that hit on the left corner of the net.
In addition, Madrid got a big blow on 77 minutes when Ramos was sent off directly for an awful tackle on Messi.
On 81 minutes, Pique had a great chance to make the scoreline 3-1 for Barcelona. Andre Gomes raised an excellent cross for Pique whose shot was saved by Navas.
On 85 minutes, Rodriguez scored a brilliant equaliser goal for the hosts. Marcelo created a great ball for Rodriguez through a cross which was perfectly netted by the Colombian after beating Ter Stegen.
When it was looking like, the both teams would share a point each and Real Madrid would continue enjoy their lead at top of the points table, Messi’s incredible finishing in the final minute of injury time changed the total perception of the game and the current points table too.
Jordi Alba generated a ball for Messi who got some free space inside the box to make a successful finish just before the final whistle. It was Messi’s 500th goal for Barcelona and that came at a great time.