Real match between crossbars, missed penalties (from Vinicius), yellow cards and a near brawl. The first Clásico of the season goes to Barcelona thanks to goals from Dembélé, the 2003 player Fermin Lopez and Ferran Torres. Unlucky Real: four crossbars hit, three all from Vinicius
Don’t call it friendly. The Clásico quite simply cannot be. And it wasn’t, not even at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, the home of the Dallas Cowboys. Real game: three goals, all from Catalonia, but also five crossbars (four from Real, three from Vinicius), a missed penalty (from Vinicius), a scrum, yellows for protests, on the pitch, on the bench and for hard interventions in midfield. And lots and lots of entertainment.
Real match
Ready and go, Barcelona is off to a better start: the new Catalan midfield has been enriched with Gundogan e Oriole romeowho returned to the Blaugrana over ten years after his farewell in 2011. Of the two new entries, he’s the one you least expect to touch the net, and what a goal that would have been: a volley into the area and a sensational crossbar, a reminder that magic in blancos by Zidane in the 2001 Champions League final with Leverkusen. Then a lot of racing, talent, contrasts. At 15′ he unlocks Dembele’s who exploits an ingenious free-kick scheme to free him with a diagonal shot from the left. Even chance for Real: but the rigor of Vinicius (naive handball by Araujo) smashes the crossbar a bit like Adriano did a long time ago in an Inter-Palermo match. Ter Stegen, therefore, flies from Rodrygo’s free-kick and Vinicius also hits the crossbar from open play. After two yellow cards in midfield for Tchouameni and Camavinga, De Jong also enters hard (harder) on Militao and takes the yellow card, con annexed scrum and graze. Shortly before Courtois had stopped Dembélé launched on goal with the usual phenomenal save. Of note is the release of Gundogan due to muscle boredom. Another yellow card (for protests against Carvajal) and the two whistles: interval.
Second half
In the second half the rhythms were only (slightly) less tight: in the 58th minute Ancelotti bet on the faithful Modric and Kroos to give a jolt. Dembélé tries around but Courtois is there. Then, in the 62nd minute, Real’s third goal of the day, with Tchouameni, who arms his right foot and fires a missile that hits wood and then ter Stegen’s head on the rebound (but the ball slips for a corner). Joselu is also inside, while Xavi launches – among others – Raphinha, Ansu Fati and Ferran Torres. Real doesn’t give up and tries with Vinicius: slalom on the left of the area and attempt from a billiard touch: the ball only grazes the post. In the final also Brahim Diaz, but the signing is still blaugrana, and the 2003-born canterano puts it there with a left-handed limit. Shortly before the 90th minute there was room for the usual Vinicius crossbar, which burns everyone on the left but then just misses the net. And for the Barça trio: Joselu came close to 1-2 with a header in the scrum, shortly after Ferran Torres – thrown at the net – puts an all too harsh seal on Ancelotti’s team.
BARCELONA 3-0 REAL MADRID
15′ Dembélé, 85′ Fermin Lopez, 90’+1 Ferran Torres
BARCELONA (4-3-3): Ter Stegen; Kounde, Araujo (77′ Ezzalzouli), Christensen (29′ Eric Garcia), Balde (76′ Dest); Oriol Romeu (77′ Ferran Torres), De Jong (77′ Marcos Alonso), Gündogan (42′ Sergi Roberto); Dembélé (66′ Raphinha), Lewandowski (77′ Ansu Fati), Pedri (66′ Fermin Lopez). All. Xavi
REAL MADRID (4-4-2): Courtois; Carvajal, Militao, Alaba, Mendy (45′ Fran Garcia); Valverde (58′ Kroos), Tchouméni, Bellingham (73′ Joselu), Camavinga (58′ Modric); Rodrygo (83′ Brahim Diaz), Vinicius. All. Ancelotti
Ammonite yourself: Tchouameni (R), Camavinga (R), De Jong (B), Carvajal (R), Romeu (B), Alaba (R)