Barcelona 4-3 Real Madrid: El Clásico – as it happened

Key events

Show key events only

Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature

Righto, Sid Lowe’s match report is with us.

That means we’re done here, so thanks all for your company and comments, sorry I couldn’t use them all. Otherwise, though, enjoy the rest of the weekend and peace out.

I wonder, though, what changes Alonso will make. Ancelotti tends to let the players find solutions, whereas he will give them a structure then empower them. He’ll need to find a way of getting Mbappe and Vinicius working well together on a regular, but most of all he’ll want to establish midfield control. With Valverde and Bellingham already in situ, that should be fairly easily achievable, but he might need to find a passer to complement them.

Back to our game, it’s easy to see how Madrid improve: they hire Xabi Alonso. Barca, though, aren’t about to sign a back four nor change how they play, so it feels like they’re mainly hoping their young defenders get better in a system designed to leave them exposed. It’s a gamble, at best.

Also going on:

Grown adult action:

“Coming belatedly to the Gerrard/Bellingham comparisons,” begins Geoff Wignall, “perhaps the best summation of Stevie G that I ever came across was that he could always win a game but he could never run one.* As yet, neither can Bellingham.”

*That was never better illustrated than in Istanbul. One half with SG in central midfield: 3-0 down. One half with Dietmar Hamann brought on to do his thing and Gerrard roaming free: 3-3.

I think I may have written that; you’ll be unsurprised to learn that I concur. Bellingham is a player I’d want taking the ball in deep buildup because he’s so press resistant, after which he has the ability both to drive and pass. But instead, he’s loitering, reliant on others to get him into the game. That should not be the case.

Updated at 18.46 CEST

Lamine says Barca needed to bounce back in front of their own fans after what happened in Europe. They’ve suffered sometimes but they need to correct that – the had opportunities to extend their lead – but though can’t wait to play in Camp Nou, it’s a special moment to hear the crowd singing.

Travis Scott enjoyed himself today.

Photograph: David Ramos/Getty Images

Grim reading for Madrid, elating feeling for Barca.

Photograph: Guardian

Ah, Neil Way reminds me that in Spain, when teams have the same number of points, they’re split according to head-to-head goal difference. With Barca having won both league clásicos – and the two in the cups – they officially need two points for the title.

Elsewhere…

FULL TIME: Barcelona 4-3 Real Madrid

A wild game full of some of the best and worst play you’ll ever seen. An at the end of it, Barcelona have more or less secured the title thanks to a comeback for the ages. Madrid were and are well beaten.

NO GOAL! Barcelona 4-3 Real Madrid

Fermin is penalised for a handball in the initial challenge.

90+6 min But VAR wants a look…

WHAT A GOAL! Barcelona 5-3 Real Madrid (Fermin 90+6)

A ball out to Fermin, 0n the left, which he loses to Valverde … only to win it back immediately! He bursts inside and into the box, leaving Modric trailing, before hammering a curler into the far side-netting! What a way to cap one of the great comebacks!

90+5 min You’ve got to credit Barca who, at 2-0 down, could easily have felt sorry for themselves, but did not. They are simply devastating going forward.

90+3 min If Barca hang on, they’ll need three points from three games to be certain of the title though, given the goal difference differential – if that’s not tautology – two will do it.

90+2 min Modric’s corner is a goodun, Tchouameni wins first contact and Mbappe, back to goal, leaps to flick home … but the flag goes up. He was, a replay shows, well offside.

90+1 min And again, Barca’s high line get them into trouble, Diaz slipping Mbappe away down the left! He cuts inside, opens his body, punches low and hard … but Szczesny shovels behind. Madrid can’t say they’ve not had the chances to save themselves

90 min We’ll have six added minutes.

89 min Diaz does really well on halfway, left-hand touchline, to draw men then find Mbappe, who immediately slides across for the onrushing Endrick and Victor Munoz, who takes the ball on, AND HE’S IN! But as Szczesny comes out, he snatches at his shot, slicing wide of the near post, and that might be Madrid’s last chance to save their title. It was Munoz’s first touch of the game and he’s only 21, but he was sent on for precisely that kind of moment and I’m afraid it got big on him.

88 min A limping Vinicius is removed, Victor Munoz replacing him; Barca, meanwhile, send on Gavi for Ferran Torres, who’s had a brilliant afternoon. I’m not sure he’s played better in blaugrana.

86 min I guess, thinking further about Kari’s email, that replacing one of the great midfields – Casemiro, Kroos, Modric – is not easily done, even with all the money in the world. You can buy brilliant players, but chemistry and balance are more delicate, so much harder to replicate.

85 min “It is remarkable, considering their resources, that Modric is still Real Madrid’s most reliable creative outlet,” returns Kári Tulinius. “More even than their defence, that’s what Xabi Alonso will need to sort out next season. Though I assume Alexander-Arnold was bought with that in mind.”

He’s a funny one, him: a tremendous player with some incredible strengths, but every team he’s in has an obvious weak point any opponent can exploit: him.

84 min Change for Madrid, Endrick replacing Vazquez. Valverde will go to right-back, I imagine, with the new man sliding into midfield.

82 min The ref is called over for a look and though the arm was by Tchouameni’s side, it was a little bit raised. Still, though, he was in no way seeking to block – if anything he was trying to withdraw his arm … and the ref makes the correct call. Well done him, the pressure was on there.

80 min VAR wants a look but that’s never a pen. It hits the hand but Torres leapt into his shot and if that’s a penalty you can literally kick the ball at people and appeal.

79 min Fort retreats towards his own goal then turns into a fine pass down the line for Lamine, who cuts inside, shoots … and Courtois flings up an arm to save, then Torres shoots into Tchouameni’s arm. Barca want a penalty, but that was at very close range and he couldn’t get out of the road.

Source link