Home   >   MOTDs   >   MOTD- Barcelona 2-1 Real Madrid

MOTD- Barcelona 2-1 Real Madrid

By on October 26, 2013
Neymar celebrates the opening goal of the match

Neymar celebrates the opening goal of the match

Neymar took his first El Clasico by the scruff of the neck to give Barcelona their first Clasico win in the 2013/2014 season and take Gerardo Martino’s side top of the league.

Although it was far from an easy win for Martino’s side, Barcelona found themselves in front in the eighteenth minute when Andreas Iniesta slipped it out to Nermay on the left.  The Brazilian winger cut inside and drilled a shot into the bottom right corner to put his side up, but with Gareth Bale starting his first ever match at the Camp Nou for Real Madrid, there must be a at least a little comeback from Madrid.

Yet the visitors waited until the second half to ignite their attacking force, with Cristiano Ronaldo seeing his screaming shot from a tight angle brilliantly blocked by Victor Valdes in the fifty-seventh minute.  Karim Benzema then rattled the crossbar via a ferocious shot from twenty-yards, only for Barcelona to double their lead two minutes later.  Having burst through the center of the pitch on a counter-attack, Barcelona substitute Alexis Sanchez looked up an saw Madrid goalkeeper Diego Lopez a few yards off his line, and although there looked to be no room for it, the Chilean dinked a beautiful chip over the Spaniard into the back of the net from about thirty-yards.

Barca began to find their rhythm again, and La Liga Champions should have taken the lead in the eighty-third minute when Dani Alves cut in from the right after slipping a cheeky nutmeg through the legs of the furious Ronaldo.  The Brazilian blasted his shot towards the far post but found Lopez in the way, and soon Barca became hungry for more goals.  Most un-Barca like, Martino’s side began to lose the ball frequently as they pushed to put the icing on the cake, allowing Madrid to set up for a nervy final minutes as Carlo Ancelotti’s side scored on the break.

Ronaldo whizzed down the left before playing it into the run of Jese Rodriguez down the middle, and the young starlet took one touch to set up a shot, which he blasted towards goal from around twenty-five yards out.  Although Valdes got slight touch on the ball it still managed to wriggle into the back of the net, leading for a nervous end to the match.  Yet Madrid failed to produce an equalizer in the final two minutes of stoppage time, taking Barca to the top of the league table.
Man of the Match: Neymar

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.