Barcelona crushed Real Madrid 4-0 in the first ever women’s Clasico on Sunday, with Madrid president Florentino Perez deciding against attending the club’s inaugural women’s match.
Goals from Patri Guijarro, Lieke Martens and Alexia Putellas, as well as an own-goal by Madrid goalkeeper Maria Rodriguez, gave Barca an expected victory in an historic fixture.
This was the first ever official fixture played by Madrid’s women’s team and the first ever against Barca, the club’s most prestigious rival and the reigning Primera Division champions.
Luis Rubiales, the president of the Spanish football federation, and Spain women’s coach Jorge Vilda were both at Valdebebas to watch the game.
But Perez was absent, choosing instead to travel to see Madrid’s men’s team play against Levante in La Liga later on Sunday.
It was no surprise the Clasico took place at Madrid’s training ground, where the men’s team are also staging home games while the Santiago Bernabeu undergoes renovation work.
Although Zinedine Zidane’s side are given the prime pitch at the Alfredo di Stefano Stadium, Madrid put the women’s game against Barca out on Pitch 11.
Barcelona founded a women’s team in 1988 and won their first Spanish title in 2012. They have gone on to claim the trophy another four times since, including last season, when they also reached the Champions League final.
Madrid, meanwhile, are embarking on their debut campaign with a women’s team, having absorbed the already-established female club CD Tacon last summer.
The transition began last year when Tacon started using Madrid’s training facilities and bolstering their squad with nine new signings.
Madrid have a lot of catching up to do on Barca, who demonstrated their superiority and might have scored more were it not for some good saves from goalkeeper Rodriguez.
Patri put her name to the fixture’s first goal when her shot deflected in after 19 minutes before Rodriguez turned into her own net after some excellent work by Caroline Graham Hansen. Martens and Alexia made the result more emphatic in the last 25 minutes.
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