Photo: bbc.com
Cristiano Ronaldo and Real Madrid have beaten Lionel Messi and Barcelona 2-1 in “El Clásico”, the notorious battle between the top two most skilled teams in Spain.
Previously, Real Madrid was in 3rd in La Liga, behind city rivals Atletico Madrid. Barcelona was in first by nearly 10 points.
Gerard Pique scored in the 56th minute to give Barca the late-ish lead, but then Madrid kicked into shape, scoring 8 minutes later on a goal from striker Karim Benzema. Madrid CB Sergio Ramos got a yellow card ten minutes into the game, which played an important role later, as he was red carded in the 83rd minute after receiving his second yellow. This ignited Cristiano’s desire to win; He pumped in a goal not even three minutes later to give Madrid the 2-1 lead, and later the win.
Barcelona was originally undefeated since October 2015 in BBVA play, last losing to Sevilla nearly a half a year ago. Barcelona still is at top of the table despite the loss with 76 points (24-4-3). Atletico Madrid still won yesterday 5-1 vs Real Betis, so they’re still second with 70 points (22-4-5) and Real Madrid trails in 3rd with 69 points (21-6-4). With only seven games remaining in the season, Real Madrid has to play as well as they did against Barcelona in their next games if they want to get into second and challenge Barcelona for the title.
SportsPress 