On Sunday evening, a clash between the Spanish football titans took place. In the 26th round of La Liga, Real Madrid hosted Barcelona at home.
In the second half, Zinedine Zidane's team from Madrid, equipped with a sauna for their Catalan rivals, won the mutual duel for the first time since 2017 and returned to the top of the tournament table.
The "Whites" last defeated the Catalans at their stadium in the summer of 2017, during the return match of the Supercup.
The match started quite passively - both teams did not take too many risks and went into halftime with a score of 0:0. However, there were several dangerous opportunities created by both teams in the first 45 minutes.
In the second half, the hosts were Real Madrid players who started pressing the Catalans and they could not control the ball at all.
In the 71st minute, Vinicius Junior sent the Santiago Bernabéu stadium into euphoria. The Brazilian, after a brilliant pass from Toni Kroos, sprinted down the left flank and redirected the ball into Marc-Andre ter Stegen's goal with a header. He became the first player since Lionel Messi to score in an El Clasico match before turning 20.
Barcelona needed to change the situation, but Real defended almost flawlessly and in the 92nd minute they sealed the victory. After Dani Carvajal's thrown ball, Mariano Diaz escaped the Barcelona defenders and secured the win. The forward, who had hardly played this season, managed to spend only a few moments on the field.
Following this victory, Madrid Real gained a one-point advantage over Barcelona, which was their 5th loss this season.
Result:
Real Madrid 2 - 0 Barcelona
71' [1 - 0] V. Junior
90+2' [2 - 0] Mariano
Lineups:
Real Madrid: Courtois; Carvajal, Varane, Ramos, Marcelo; Valverde, Casemiro, Kroos, Isco; Benzema, Vinicius.
Substitutes: Areola, Militao, Modric, Lucas V, Mendy, Mariano, Bale.
Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Semedo, Pique, Umtiti, Alba; Vidal, Busquets, Arthur, De Jong; Messi, Griezmann.
Substitutes: Neto, Lenglet, Braithwaite, Junior Firpo, Collado, Ansu Fati, Rakitic.
