This Thursday, the Barcelona visited the Real Madrid and won 1-0 in the first leg of the Copa del Rey semifinal. Éder Militão, against, scored the only goal of the match still in the initial stage.
The match, as a whole, was marked by many fouls and discussions between the players and the referee, who had difficulties to control the spirits of the athletes on the field. The duel was refereed by Spaniard José Luis Munuera Montero.
The return game will only take place on April 5th. Until then, the two rivals meet again, for the Spanish Championship, on March 19, in Barcelona.
Real Madrid’s next match is against Real Betis, away from home, on Sunday, at 5 pm (Brasília time). Barcelona is back on the field also on Sunday, at 12:15 pm, against Valencia, at home. Both games are valid for the 24th round of La Liga.
The game
Real Madrid started the game better, creating more chances and scoring in the 11th minute with Benzema. However, the irregular position of the French striker annulled the merengue goal. Later, at 25, it was Barça’s turn to score, but this time for real. After a shot by Kessié and a save by Courtois, the ball exploded in Militão and went into the goal.
The match, after the inauguration of the scoreboard, became more balanced and saw both teams in a hurry to take the ball to the attack. Even so, the score was still 1-0 after 45 hectic and physical minutes on the pitch.
Even with the favorable result at halftime, Barcelona had a first half of little creation, with only one final goal being made. The team was without Lewandowski, its main reference in the attack, for this match.
Real Madrid came back with everything for the second half and brought a lot of danger to goalkeeper Ter Stegen. Even so, the meringues were not very efficient and left gaps in the defense, which were well exploited by Barcelona in the counterattacks.
Anyway, even with a busy second half, Barcelona’s advantage remained minimal and Real was unable to equalize the score for the return.
DATASHEET
REAL MADRID 0 X 1 BARCELONA
Local: Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid (ESP).
Data: March 02, 2023 (Thursday).
Time: 17 hours (from Brasilia).
Referee: Jose Luis Munuera Montero.
Assistants: Iñigo Prieto and Antonio Ramon Martinez.
WAS: Ignacio Iglesias Villanueva.
Yellow cards: Vinicius Jr., Nacho Fernandez, Valverde (Real Madrid); Raphinha, Gavi, Kessie (Barcelona).
GOALS: Barcelona: Éder Militão (GC), in the 25th minute of Q1.
REAL MADRID: Courtois, Carvajal, Éder Militão, Rüdiger, Nacho Fernandéz (Rodrygo); Modric (Álvaro Rodríguez), Camavinga, Kroos (Tchouaméni); Valverde, Vinícius Jr., Benzema.
Technician: Charles Ancelotti.
BARCELONA: Ter Stegen, Ronald Araújo, Koundé, Mark Alonso, Alex Balde; Kessie (Sergi Roberto), Busquets, Frenkie de Jong; Raphinha (Ansu Fati), Ferran Towers, Gavi.
Technician: Xavi Hernandez.
Source: Gazetaesportiva
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