On a late Saturday evening, exceptional matches of the 26th round were played in the Spanish "La Liga" championship.
For the second time this week, Real Madrid and Barcelona clubs met at the "Santiago Bernabeu" stadium. Once again, the struggling Madrid club disappointed their fans - the Catalans achieved a minimal victory and eliminated the "white" team from the title race.
The Madrid team desperately needed a win in this match - on Wednesday, they lost the Copa del Rey semi-final to Barca, and in order to keep their hopes alive in the league, only a victory would suffice.
The hosts started the match quite well - they controlled the ball for a larger part of the time and tried to get closer to Ter Stegen's goal. However, Real Madrid lacked sharpness in the final third of the attack, so the visitors' goalkeeper did not face many difficulties.
Later on, Barcelona began to visit the hosts' half more frequently, and in the 26th minute, one of the first chances was converted into a goal. Ivan Rakitic broke away from the Real defenders in the 26th minute and placed the ball past Thibaut Courtois from a fairly acute angle.
A painful blow was dealt to the Royal club, and bouncing back was not easy.
The fight moved on to the second half, where Real tried to attack with more determination. However, Barcelona's defense played almost flawlessly - defenders even a few times intercepted balls in the penalty area that were heading towards Ter Stegen's goal.
In the second half of the match, Barcelona also had several chances, but no more goals were scored, and the visitors celebrated victory in the Spanish capital for the second time in four days.
The Madrid club in third place is already 12 points behind Barcelona, and Atletico Madrid, the other city champions, also have a huge deficit - 10 points.
Result:
"Real Madrid" 0 - 1 "Barcelona"
26' [0 - 1] I. Rakitic
Tournament table:
Starting lineups:
"Real Madrid": Courtois; Carvajal, Varane, Ramos, Reguilon; Modric, Casemiro, Kroos; Bale, Benzema, Vinicius.
"Barcelona": Ter Stegen; Sergi Roberto, Pique, Lenglet, Jordi Alba; Rakitic, Busquets, Arthur; Messi, Luis Suarez, Dembele."
