Riyadh: Real Madrid won their 100th El Clasico since the two teams first met in 1902. An extra minute strike from Fede Valverde helped Real Madrid defeat FC Barcelona by 3-2 semifinals of the Spanish Supercopa in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Thursday(January 13).
The clash between Barcelona and Real Madrid always draws in the maximum attention as being one of the most important footballing phenomenon. The semi final clash did not disappoint as Barcelona trailed twice but pulled themselves back up to drag the match to extra time, where a strike from Valverde secured the win for Real.
Real Madrid took the lead through Vinicius Junior, who opened the scoring on 25 minutes. Although a somewhat lucky FC Barcelona found their equaliser through Luuk de Jong, as both the teams walked out for half time break with the scorecard levelled at 1-1.
Karim Benzema again gave the lead back to Madrid but it was the FC Barcelona new No.10 who returned from an injury, who brought back the Catalans into the game. Ansu Fati who came in as a substitute headed home the equaliser on 84 minutes to force extra time. Valverde came off the bench and scored the winning goal on 98th minute, as Barça failed to look for the equaliser this time.
“This Barca can compete against anyone. We didn’t get the result but it was step forward despite the loss,” said Xavi Hernandez said in a postmatch news conference.
“I’m sad and angry because it’s a Clasico defeat and we miss out on a trophy. But we dominated Madrid for large spells. We lack some experience, patience, responsibility. We made mistakes. We could have stopped their counters and been more responsible with the ball. We’re close. We pushed Madrid back. It’s a shame.”
