Real Madrid outplayed Barcelona for large parts of Wednesday’s La Liga clash but was unable to make its dominance count and the Clasico ended goalless to leave the Catalans top of the standings on goal difference.
Both sides had shots cleared off the line and Real’s Gareth Bale did put the ball in the net after the interval but his strike was narrowly ruled out for offside and the fixture ended scoreless for the first time since November, 2002.
The draw left Barca top on 36 points after 17 games with Real also on 36, five clear of third-placed Sevilla.
The game was rescheduled from Oct. 26 due to the political turmoil that gripped Catalonia after separatist leaders were given lengthy jail sentences two months ago and was played amid a protest in favour of independence near the stadium.
The action on the pitch did not quite live up to the billing or the tense atmosphere in the stands as Barca failed to get going throughout the game and Real bossed the first half.
Zinedine Zidane’s side fired 12 shots at goal before the interval, coming closest with a Casemiro header which Gerard Pique scrambled off the goalline, while it also had two penalty appeals waved away for challenges on Raphael Varane.
Barca looked short of ideas, with Lionel Messi being the only source of inspiration.
The Argentine could have broken the deadlock in the first half but Real captain Sergio Ramos slid to the floor to block his goal-bound shot.
Messi later teed up Jordi Alba with a scooped pass but the defender fired just wide, while Barca’s all-time top-scorer was uncharacteristically sloppy at times and miss-controlled a clear opportunity to strike at goal in the second half.
A superb Cristiano Ronaldo header sent Juventus three points clear at the top of Serie A with a 2-1 victory at Sampdoria on Wednesday as Gianluigi Buffon matched the league appearance record.
Buffon equalled Paolo Maldini’s record of 647 Serie A appearances and set a new Juventus Serie A appearance record of 479 games, one more than Alessandro Del Piero.
The results: La Liga: Barcelona 0 drew with Real Madrid 0.
Serie A: Sampdoria 1 (Caprari 35) lost to Juventus 2 (Dybala 19, Ronaldo 45); Brescia 0 lost to Sassuolo 2 (Traore 25, Caputo 71).
Bundesliga: Bayer Leverkusen 0 lost to Hertha Berlin 1 (Rekik 64); Borussia Monchengladbach 2 (Plea 46, Stindl 67-pen) bt SC Paderborn 0; VfL Wolfsburg 1 (Mbabu 82) drew with Schalke 04 1 (Kabak 50); Eintracht Frankfurt 2 (Hinteregger 6, Paciencia 30) lost to Cologne 4 (Hector 44, Bornauw 72, Drexler 81, Jakobs 90+4); Freiburg 1 (Grifo 59) lost to Bayern Munich 3 (Lewandowski 16, Zirkzee 90+2, Gnabry 90+5).
