An eventful match, inside the AT and T Stadium in Arlington, Texas in the United States sees Barcelona emerge winners with three beautiful goals, against their Clasico rivals, Real Madrid.
Despite having the better opportunities, Real Madrid were unable to beat Marc Andre Ter Stegen in the Barcelona goal as the German, and the woodwork ensure there’s nothing for Los Blancos in the match.
Moreso, Barcelona made it three consecutive Clasico wins for those played in the US having won the previous two held in Miami in 2017 and Las Vegas last summer.
This time, the margin is bigger and to add to the excitement, it came in front of a record crowd for a Clasico match played in the United States as 82,026 fans made their way into the AT and T Stadium for the showpiece.
Barcelona took an early lead after 14 minutes from a routine free-kick. It was taken short with the ball finding its way to Pedri, who teed up Ousmane Dembele to fire home from a very difficult angle.
Less than five minutes later, Carlo Ancelotti’s side were presented a chance for redemption after referee, Allen Chapman had no choice but to award a penalty following a handball by Ronald Araújo.
With Karim Benzema gone and Luka Modric not in the pitch, Vinicius Júnior took the responsibility but just like Bukayo Saka against Barcelona few days back, he also failed to convert as his effort came off the cross bar, despite Ter Stegen being well beaten.
Real Madrid continued to create more chances but unfortunately could not find a breakthrough, with three shots coming off the woodwork in the first half alone.
Bellingham, Rodrygo and Vinicius with great chances to level matters but Barça managed to survive all thrown at them and despite recording an expected goal of 0.53 compared to Madrid’s 2.08, it was Xavi’s side who headed into the break with the one goal advantage.
A hectic first half also saw three players taken off due to injury fears. Ilkay Gundogan and Andreas Christensen were replaced by Sergi Roberto and Eric Garcia respectively for Barcelona while Fran Garcia took the place of Ferland Mendy.
Four yellow card was also dished out in the half, with Rudiger, who was not on the pitch the first to have his name taken. He was soon joined by Camavinga, Frenkie de Jong and Dani Cavarjal.
The second half also got underway with Madrid pushing for the equalizer. It would not come despite several attempts, which saw them register 29 shots in the match, with two more shots coming off the woodwork, totalling five.
A frustrating night upgraded from bad to worse five minutes from the end of normal time, as Barcelona’s advantage was doubled by 20-year-old midfielder from La Masia, Fermin Lopez.
He received a simple pass from Sergi Roberto and unleashed a sensational strike that traveled into the top corner, with Thibault Courtois helpless.
The youngster’s night would end up getting even bigger and better as he teed up Ferran Torres with an exquisite pass to make it 3-0.
Marc Andre Ter Stegen was awarded the player of the match for his performance while for Xavi, it is his sixth Clasico win since returning to Barcelona as the manager and what a way to respond to losing to Arsenal on Thursday.
Next stop is the meeting with Milan, before the LaLiga Champions return to Spain to take on English side, Tottenham Hotspur in their traditional curtain raise, Joan Gamper trophy final.
For Madrid, despite it being a friendly match, no one wants to be on the losing side in a Clasico. The result does add to their misery inflicted by the sad news of Arda Güler’s injury earlier in the day.
They battle Juventus on Thursday to conclude their schedule on the tour of the United States.
Hassan Afolabi
