Sid Lowe's match report
That’s all from me. It was an excellent game, particularly in the first half. Real were extremely impressive for an hour and created the better chances to score a second, but faded with a combination of tiredness and the arrival of Messi in the final half-hour. Thanks for being here. Bye!
The second leg will be played at the Bernabeu on the 27th, and is likely to be decent.
Final score: Barcelona 1-1 Real Madrid
90+4 mins: And that’s it! A high-quality, high-tempo game ends with spoils deservedly shared.
90+3 mins: Jordi Alba’s cross is a little strong for Vidal, but he keeps it in play and pulls back to Suarez, whose volley from outside the box hits a defender.
90+1 mins: Messi goes down on the edge of the area again, but this time Ramos’s challenge was precise - and had to be.
90+1 mins: There will be three minutes or so of stoppage time.
88 mins: Messi loses the ball on the edge of the Real area and Barcelona players compete to give away the free kick that will stop Real’s break. Busquets commits the first foul, but Real keep the ball and the referee waves play on. Vidal commits the second, on Casemiro, and this time the referee blows his whistle.
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87 mins: Good pressure from Real, who work the ball around the Barcelona area for a while. In the end the ball rolls to the edge of the area where Kroos runs onto it, but Pique gets in the way of the shot!
85 mins: Kroos curls a lovely free kick into the area, but Varane mistimes his jump and the ball goes wide off his back.
85 mins: The night’s final substitution sees Marco Asensio comes on for Llorente.
84 mins: Semedo does well to win and keep the ball on the right, and then pulls back to Messi, but Alena (I think) gets in his way and nothing comes of it.
81 mins: What a chance for Real Madrid! Ter Stegen sprints from his area to win the ball but it goes to Benzema, who instantly finds Bale, who takes too long over shooting, allows Ter Stegen to race back to his line, and then hits a defender.
| CHANCE |
— Eleven Sports (@ElevenSports_UK) February 6, 2019
Gareth Bale should have done far better with that one!
He had the chance to give Real Madrid the lead against Barcelona 😳#ElClasico pic.twitter.com/r4jCN323Zc
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79 mins: Suarez goes down in the area, with Carvajal behind him looking guilty. It was an idiotic challenge, with Suarez right in the corner of the area by the byline, and I think that anywhere outside the area it would certainly have been a free kick. Here, though, the referee is not so keen.
77 mins: A Barca break end with Alena, who collects Messi’s pass but is instantly closed down by two defenders. Had he managed to lift the ball beyond them Suarez was entirely unmarked, but instead he tried to shoot, and Carvajal blocked.
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76 mins: Perhaps Malcom’s quiet spell was more down to injury than tactical adjustments. He’s just gone off, with Alena replacing him.
75 mins: Sergio Ramos, already on a booking, goes in late on Arthur. Free kick, but no second yellow.
73 mins: Malcom has been switched from right to left in the last 10 minutes, and has become a little less influential.
70 mins: Messi shoots into the middle of the wall.
69 mins: Messi pickpockets Casemiro and hares goalwards. Vazquez clips his heels on the edge of the D, and Messi will have a decent shooting chance from the free-kick.
67 mins: Messi runs past two people but then runs straight into Varane. A moment later he has the ball again, with an easy pass available to play Suarez in, but he overhits it!
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65 mins: There’s a bit more swagger about Barcelona’s play since their equaliser. Perhaps Real’s rabid harrying is also slowing as they tire, which would help.
63 mins: It’s a magic roundabout on the touchline. Real take off Llorente, who appears to be feeling a muscle tweak of some description, and bring on Casemiro. Also: Bale comes on for Vinicus Jr, and Messi for Coutinho.
63 mins: Vidal replaces Rakitic. Messi is about to come on too.
62 mins: Coutinho has another shot from outside the area, but it’s straight down the middle and Navas catches easily.
61 mins: Barcelona are about to make a change and ... it’s Vidal.
60 mins: Alba was booked in the aftermath of the goal, presumably for being mean to the referee.
58 mins: The goal stands! Jordi Alba was played in on the left, but Navas comes out quickly and blocks the shot. It rebounds to Suarez, miles out, with no time, and from an unpromising angle, and he somehow hits the post! The ball rebounds to Malcom, with several defenders now on the line, but he beats them all from 15 yards!
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GOAL! Barcelona 1-1 Real Madrid (Malcom, 58 mins)
Malcom is celebrating! His team-mates are surrounding the referee! Is it a goal? Is it not? What’s happening? Who knows?
57 mins: Another booking, this time for Marcelo, who tripped Pique after the ball had gone. There was very little contact, but the ball ha very much gone.
55 mins: Suarez clips Ramos as they race towards the ball inside the penalty area. He gestures angrily at the referee after the whistle goes, and is booked as a result.
54 mins: The crowd has been loudly calling for Messi’s introduction for a few minutes now. The great man appears to be doing his shoelaces, which is encouraging.
53 mins: Coutinho has a shot from just outside the area, the ball dipping and curling but clearing the bar by a distance.
52 mins: Arthur very nicely dispossesses Modric on the edge of the Barcelona area, the Croatian mid-shot when the ball disappeared and falling over with astonishment after his foot hits nothing but air (and perhaps a bit of the disappearing Arthur).
49 mins: Barcelona have had a lot of the ball in these early minutes of the second half, but done absolutely nothing with it.
46 mins: Jordi Alba has the ball on the left edge of the area. Carvajal closes him down, holding his hands behind his back to keep his arms by his side. Alba blasts the ball into Carvajal and then has the gall to demand a penalty.
46 mins: And they’re off! Again!
The players are gathering in the tunnel ahead of half two. It doesn’t look like there will be any immediate changes.
He had an excellent first half, but the scoreline might be even better for Real had he passed on a couple of those occasions instead of shooting.
4 - Vinícius Júnior attempted four shots in the first half of #ElClasico, as many as all Barcelona players combined. Energetic. pic.twitter.com/3Pc4ieOEHc
— OptaJose (@OptaJose) February 6, 2019
“Has Ramos been booked yet? Or is he waiting for Messi?” wonders Ruth Purdue. Oh, he was booked long ago, and is ripe for a second-half, Messi-inspired red.
Half time: Barcelona 0-1 Real Madrid
45+1 mins: And that’s half-time. It’s been an excellent half of high-tempo, hotly-contested football. Real certainly started the better and might have scored more than once before Barcelona got into the game, but having done so perhaps they might have equalised before the break.
45 mins: Modric fouls Arthur, who does well to stay on his feet and keep going. So Modric fouls him again. Arthur again stays upright, but the referee’s had enough and blows his whistle. No yellow for that double-whammy, though.
43 mins: Nelson Semedo goes into the referee’s notebook, for pushing Vinicius in the chest as he tried to change direction. A harsh booking, in my opinion.
41 mins: Rakitic gives the ball away, wins it back excellently, passes to Malcom, gets it back and then gives it away again.
38 mins: Malcom’s selection was the chief talking-point pre-match but he has had an excellent half, and is combining very well with Nelson Semedo.
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37 mins: Nearly a fluke chance for Barcelona! A clearance hits Coutinho in the head and rebounds beautifully for Suarez, but the Uruguayan’s attempt to take the ball around Varane only gives it to Navas.
35 mins: Good save! Malcom is the creator again, picking up a long ball on the right, dribbling into the area and poking to Suarez, whose curler from the edge of the box is palmed wide by Navas!
32 mins: And Real nearly double their lead on the counter! He runs down the left and tries to pick out Benzema with his cross, but it’s just too far in front of the Frenchman!
32 mins: Barcelona hit the bar! Malcom wins another free-kick on the right, sends it in nicely, and Rakitic heads against the woodwork!
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31 mins: Barcelona come close! Malcom cuts in from the right and plays in Semedo. Navas roars off his line, Semedo blindly crosses and it finds a white shirt!
29 mins: Busquets slides in to dispossess Vinicius Jr, but the ball hits his hand as he slides and the referee gives a free kick.
27 mins: Malcom wins a free-kick on the right and curls it in nicely. Pique heads over, though the referee gives a corner so perhaps it was deflected on its way. Malcom’s delivery from the corner isn’t as good as it was from the free-kick.
26 mins: The ball is played through to Jordi Alba, busting his gut on the left flank, but it skims unhelpfully off the surface and Navas gets to it first.
23 mins: Malcom nearly dribbles through the Barcelona defence, only to be dispossessed at the last. Real break at pace, Vinicius Junior drives down the left and then picks out Kroos, who has to stretch a fraction too far to land boot on ball and can’t control his shot.
20 mins: Suarez slides through to Malcom, who runs clear but his shot is unconvincing and saved by Navas, and then the whistle blows - Malcom was fractionally offside (though Suarez should have played the ball a bit sooner, and then he wouldn’t have been).
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19 mins: The corner is cleared to Llorente, who slams a volley wide from 20 yards.
17 mins: Coutinho gives the ball away this time. Benzema passes to Vinicius to his left, and the Brazilian wildly miscues his shot, and is lucky that it hit Pique so Real at least get a corner out of it.
13 mins: Rakitic is dispossessed in midfield and three white shirts run towards goal, with only two defenders in their way. Vinicius Junior and Benzema practically grapple with each other for the right to run with the ball, both ignore the totally unmarked Kroos to their left, and Vinicius’s shot is charged down by Pique. That should have been No2.
10 mins: A good moment for Barcelona, who get bodies in the box but Sergio Ramos clears Arthur Melo’s cross. Then seconds later Ramos fouls Semedo on the Real left, and is booked.
8 mins: Navas clears the ball to Marcelo on the left, who tries an outlandish and frankly irresponsible backheel flick-volley infield which sends it straight to Busquets.
GOAL! Barcelona 0-1 Real Madrid (Vazquez, 6 mins)
An early goal for Real! Vinicius Junior carries the ball down the left, cuts in and then chips the ball beyond the far post, where Jordi Alba misjudges his header, Benzema chests down and cuts back, and Vazquez finishes nicely!
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5 mins: A shot! Kroos, teed up by Vinicius Junior, powers in a drive from 25 yards and Ter Stegen beats it away.
3 mins: Coutinho is played through on the left, but is offside.
2 mins: Almost all the play so far has been down Real’s left flank, and most of that has happened within 10 yards of the halfway line. The visitors have had a few throw-ins, but there has been no early excitement.
1 min: And they’re off! Real Madrid get the game started!
To commemorate Chinese new year, the Barcelona players have their names on the back of their shirts in both the Latin and Chinese alphabets.
The players are emerging from the tunnel! Much vigorous flag-waving in the stands.
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“I’ve been out of touch with Spanish football for a while, but why are Bale, Asensio, Isco and Casemiro all on the bench?” asks Sanchit Sabhlok. It’s not such a surprise: only Bale and Casemiro of those players started in the league at the weekend. Isco has started only five league games this season, and Asensio’s substitute appearance against Alaves was his first since before Christmas. Llorente for Casemiro is an interesting call, but not an unjustifiable one.
Barcelona have distributed some 40,000 little plastic flags to their fans tonight, and many are already waving them with gusto.
The players are all out and warming up. As you’d probably expect. They tend to come out much later in Barcelona than at the average Premier League ground, presumably because they do the first part of their warm-up inside somewhere.
Also not starting tonight is Gareth Bale, who may well be “ready for El Clasico” but is not, for the moment, needed for El Clasico. He’s only made one substitute appearance in the Copa del Rey this season, and has been a bit injured of late.
Ready for El Clasico. Vamos! 💪🏻 #HalaMadrid pic.twitter.com/XlmNwW60Px
— Gareth Bale (@GarethBale11) February 5, 2019
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Lionel Messi starts on the bench for Barcelona, with Malcom taking his place in the starting XI. Talking of Messi, his casual attire appears to have angered Darren Huckerby:
Messi and Suarez dressed like they are going Skateboarding not playing Real Madrid in a #ElClásico 😂 👏🏻 https://t.co/oTMV0ieIFY
— Darren Huckerby (@hucks6dh6) February 6, 2019
The teams!
The teams are in, and these are they:
Barcelona: Ter Stegen, Semedo, Pique, Lenglet, Alba, Rakitic, Busquets, Arthur, Malcom, Suarez, Coutinho. Subs: Iñaki Peña, S Roberto, Messi, Arturo Vidal, Aleñá, Boateng, Murillo.
Real Madrid: Navas, Carvajal, Ramos, Varane, Marcelo, Kroos, Modric, Lucas, Llorente, Vinicius, Benzema. Subs: Courtois, Nacho, Bale, Casemiro, Asensio, Isco, Ceballos.
🔵🔴 Barça XI#ElClásico #CopaBarça pic.twitter.com/rPUXJWdfOL
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) February 6, 2019
🔢 Nuestro once inicial frente al Barcelona. #RMClasico | #RMCopa pic.twitter.com/0mPE6TcOuy
— Real Madrid C.F.⚽ (@realmadrid) February 6, 2019
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Simon will be here shortly.
