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MOTD- Real Madrid 3-4 Barcelona

By on March 23, 2014

On a night with multiple records broken, seven goals scored, a sending off, fights, and missed chances, it’s fair to say that “El Clasico” lived up to it’s name. Although Real Madrid provided the match with it’s pace and scored a hat-trick of goals, the home side didn’t even come away with a win over their old rivals Barcelona. The Blaugrana weren’t to shabby either, with Lionel Messi’s hat-trick making him the highest ever goalscorer in the famous fixture.

Not much more than a rather cagey affair was really expected due to the importance of the match, which keeps Barcelona in the La Liga title race, but it was evident that the fans at the Bernabeu, Real and Barca supporters alike, were in for a thriller after the opening encounters. Neymar forced Diego Lopez into a smart stop four minutes in to kick away the Brazilian’s low effort from a tight angle to the right of goal, before Karim Benzema screwed a good chance wide of the near post moments later.

Madrid were pressing high, yet found themselves a goal down only seven minutes in when Messi slipped Andres Iniesta in down the left, where the midfielder slammed it past Lopez into the back of the net. The breathless opening hardly gave way for a single moment, and Benzema really should have put his side in front as Angel Di Maria cut it back to the forward from the left side of the box. Benzema was completely unmarked six yards out from goal, yet somehow scraped a shot over the bar.

Messi then scraped a low effort wide from fifteen yards, a miss that the Argentina would momentarily come to rue as Benzema headed Di Maria’s wonderful cross from the left into the far corner of the net in the twentieth minute. Madrid rode on their momentum, and actually found a second just four minutes later when Benzema volleyed home another incredible Di Maria cross from the left at the far post. It was Di Maria once again two minutes later, with the winger cutting a cross back to Benzema, who curled a low shot past Victor Valdes that Gerard Pique just cleared off the line.

The home side were controlling the match, but the unstoppable Messi managed to make it all square again as he snapped a low shot into the bottom right corner of the net in the fourty-second minute. Madrid had dominated the first half, but Messi’s first goal on the night signaled a turn in fortunes for Barca.

Gerardo Martino’s side came out much stronger in the second half, finally implementing their classic possession and tiki-taka play. Their defense did well to keep Gareth Bale isolated down the right and everything seemed to be lining up for the visitors to go ahead and grab the win, only for Cristiano Ronaldo to suddenly win Madrid a penalty ten minutes into the second period. The winger’s shimmy sent him past Dani Alves and into the box, but Alves stuck out a trailing leg and brought Ronaldo down. Cristiano emphatically slammed the resulting penalty into the bottom left corner, yet Barca remained cool in their bid to turn the game around.

Iniesta sliced an incredible twenty-five yard side volley inches over the crossbar nearly an hour in, before Neymar cut in from the right and curled a weak effort into the arms of Lopez. Barca were squarely on top, so it wasn’t much of a surprise when they pulled the scoreline level again. Messi’s super-vision helped the forward slip a beautiful through ball in between the Madrid defense to the diagonal run of Neymar, and as the Brazilian was in Sergio Ramos had no choice but to pull him down near the penalty spot. Ramos received straight red for the foul Messi cooly hammered the spot-kick into the corner of the net, setting the tone for the final half hour.

Alves then slammed a beautiful dipping effort out off the inside of the post, before the winner for Barca finally came when Messi curled his second penalty in the match into the top right corner after Iniesta had been brought down by Xabi Alonso. Pepe has to be credited for keeping Madrid’s three man defense steady since Ramos’ sending off, but in the end was unable to keep Barca from breaking it down and stealing the vital three points.
Man of the Match: Angel Di Maria AND Lionel Messi

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.