Paul Erewuba
Barcelona’s slow start to the La Liga season continues as they lost 3-1 to Real Madrid at Camp Nou in the first El Clásico of the season, yesterday.
Barça played well in the first half, fell apart in the second after a controversial penalty for Los Blancos and lost three points at home to their biggest rivals.
In the match monitored in Lagos, Barça made a very slow start to the game and paid for it just five minutes in, when a terrible defensive breakdown left Federico Valverde all alone inside the box to give Madrid the lead.
Barça quickly woke up after conceding and instantly equalised after a brilliant pass from Lionel Messi, and assist for Jordi Alba and a tap-in from Ansu Fati.
After just eight minutes the game already had two goals, and the fun continued after that. Barça pressed very high up the pitch looking to recover the ball and create chances, and they had a big one on a counter attack that ended with Messi on a one-on-one situation with Thibaut Courtois, who made a brilliant save.
The game slowed down a bit after that in terms of chances, but both teams were intense and traded periods of dominance in attack, and the two sides were solid enough in defense to avoid any more trouble at the back.
At halftime, a very entertaining game was all square and clearly up for grabs ahead of the final period.
The second half started very much like the first ended, with both teams doing a good job of stopping each other, though Ansu Fati and Philippe Coutinho had a couple of really good chances but couldn’t hit the target.
Fifteen minutes into the period, the controversy: Lenglet pulled Sergio Ramos’ shirt inside the box, Ramos threw himself to the ground to try and earn a penalty, and it was given after a VAR review. Ramos scored from the spot, and Madrid that the lead.