Barcelona extend their lead in the La Liga table to 4 points after beating their title rivals, Real Madrid, in the El Clasico. Jeremy Mathieu surprisingly opened the scoring for the Catalonia side in the 18th minute, however Ronaldo equalised for Los Blancos in the 31st minute. Suarez scored the winner for the hosts in the 56th minute, to take Barcelona one step closer, to the La Liga title.
Barcelona came close in the second minute of the game when Iniesta played a great one-two with Rakitic, to set the Barcelona captain running into the box, but his pass back to Rakitic was intercepted by Ramos. Iniesta was also injured during the play, where it looked like Carvajal had caught the Spanish midfielder in the ankle, causing Iniesta to fall to the ground in pain, but the midfielder retuned to the pitch moments later. Ronaldo almost gave Los Blancos the lead when Benzema chipped the ball towards the Portuguese winger, and his half volley from close range smashed off the underside of the bar in the 12th minute. The danger was cleared behind for a corner by Barcelona, however the visitors wasted the set piece.
Barcelona drew first blood in the El Clasico when an unlikely scorer, Jeremy Mathieu, scored his first goal for Barcelona in the 18th minute. Messi whipped in a great free kick from just outside the penalty box, and the former Valencia centre back found the space to get on the end of the cross, and the 32-year-old Frenchman, headed the ball past Casillas with a beautiful header, to give Barca the lead. Neymar should had doubled Barcelona’s lead in the 30th minute when Suarez’s shot from inside the penalty found Neymar, with the goal gapping, but the Brazilian wonder kid played the ball into the arms of Casillas. The miss from Neymar turned out to be critical as moments later, Ronaldo equalised for Real Madrid. Modric played in Benzema towards the penalty box, the French striker brilliantly back heeled the ball to set up Cristiano Ronaldo, and from 12-yards-out, Ronaldo punished Barcelona, and slotted the ball past Bravo, to silence the Camp Nou.
Bale thought he had put Los Blancos ahead in the 39th minute when the Welsh winger drifted into the penalty box, to tuck away a Ronaldo flick with a toe poke from close range, to put the ball past Bravo, but the linesman’s flag was already up for offside. However, video replays showed that Bale was onside when the ball was played from Benzema, however Ronaldo looked like he was in an offside position when the cross was played. Bale again came close when a Kroos corner found the former Spurs winger, but the 25-year-old reacted too quickly, and passed the ball wide of the post.
Benzema almost scored one of the team goals of the season in the 49th minute. Bale, Benzema and Marcelo all linked up during a creative counter attack, but Benzema’s final shot was met by a great save from Bravo. Luis Suarez wrote his name into El Clasico history when the £75 million striker found the back of the net in the 56th minute, Dani Alves sent in an incredible long ball to find the Uruguayan striker unmarked in the Madrid half, Suarez incredibly cushioned the pass and burst through on goal, and the former Liverpool striker tucked the ball past Casillas to give Barcelona the lead for the second time.
The game turned sour, as is the nature of the El Clasico, when Mascherano attempted to get Cristiano sent off when the Argentina holding midfielder, pretended that Ronaldo had booted him in he chest, seconds later, Iniesta un-intentionally elbowed Sergio Ramos in the jaw, however the Spanish centre back carried on moments later. Players from both teams were going down at every possible moment, and after 65 minutes, 10 of the 20 outfield players were inside the referee’s book. Messi, who had been quite for a majority of the night, came close to sealing the game for the Catalonia club when Messi broke through the Madrid defence, but his finish flew past the post, to keep the score at 2-1 in the 74th minute. Messi almost played the creator when the Number 10 glided down the Madrid half, and played the ball into Neymar, but the 22-year-old blazed wide in the 75th minute. Benzema managed to pull out a fine save out of Bravo when the striker’s shot from the edge of the penalty box deflected off Busquets and Pique, but Bravo was there to parry the shot out, for a corner.
Iker Casillas kept the tie alive when Jordi Alba and Messi combined well to set Alba through on goal, but Casillas got a hand onto Alba’s low chip, and palmed the ball out for a corner. Casillas came to Madrid’s rescue again when Messi fired from close range towards the near post, and Casillas got down well, to save the shot.