Barcelona came close to snapping Real Madrid’s unbeaten run in the Spanish La Liga through a Luis Suarez goal but Sergio Ramos popped up with a minute left on the clock to head in the equaliser as the game finished 1-1 at the Camp Nou on Saturday.
The draw kept Madrid’s unbeaten run in the league intact and stretched Zinedine Zidane’s unbeaten run to a record 34 points. Compared to the El Clasicos of recent years, this contest lacked intensity till Suarez’s goal, eight minutes into the second half.
The home side, to their credit, were solid at the back for the most part, and didn’t let Cristiano Ronaldo and co. to get behind them. They key here was that Luis Enrique played a slightly deeper back-line, which also worked against his team in the first half, where Barca failed to create clear-cut chances.
Ronaldo should have done better after evading two defenders while running at the heart of the opposition defence in the first-half. The Portuguese’s toe-poked finish was weak and went straight to the hands of keeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen, who had a solid game.
Suarez’s goal came against the run of play. The Uruguayan timed his jump over Raphael Varane to perfection and headed the ball home from a Neymar free-kick, eight minutes after the break. With Real desperately trying to get back in the game, space opened up for Barca, who should have done better from the amount of chances they created.
Neymar had two: His first effort was a shot at the far post which was expertly blocked by Varane. The second was a cut-in and shot from the left, but the ball ballooned narrowly over the bar.
Andres Iniesta, who came on in the second half, also came close with a shot from left, inside the area, but only found the side netting. Lionel Messi, who had a below-par game by his standards, latched on to a through ball and beat the Madrid defence but his shot across the face of goal missed the target comfortably. On another day, the Argentine maverick would have finished it with his eyes closed.
Madrid had a sniff late in the game and Ramos came close with another header, a minute before he scored. The veteran defender cashed in on lax defending by Barca in the box from a free-kick to steal a point and maintain his side’s six-point lead at the top of the table.
Brief score:
Barcelona 1 (Luis Suarez) draw with Real Madrid 1 (Sergio Ramos)
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