Barcelona grabbed a dramatic El Clasico victory over Real Madrid
Franck Kessie scored a dramatic late winner as Barcelona beat Real Madrid to a 12-point lead in La Liga.
Real progressed in El Clasico against the run of play as Vinicius Jr’s cross was headed into his own goal by Barcelona defender Ronald Araujo.
Barca equalized before half-time through Sergi Roberto’s shot after Raphinha’s effort was blocked.
Marco Asensio saw a late strike for Real ruled out for offside, before Kessie scored an injury-time winner.
Both sides have 12 league games remaining and Barca are in a dominant position as they look to win their first title since 2018-19.
Roberto said, “You can’t talk [the title] it’s over but now they’re 12 points ahead so it’s tough for them.
“It depends on us and that’s the most important thing. I’m very happy to help the team with a goal. It was epic at the end and I’m happy Franck got the goal.
“The game turned when we thought Asensio had scored, it was ruled offside and we scored. It’s better when you win with the last goal and it’s great to do it in front of the fans.
Defending champions Real come into this game after beating Liverpool 1-0 on Wednesday to complete a 6-2 aggregate victory to move into the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
Karim Benzema, who scored against the Reds, took the first shot of the match in the opening minutes but saw his effort from outside the penalty area caught by Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
But the visitors were then indebted to goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois as he made a superb save to keep out Robert Lewandowski’s 25-yard effort and Raphinha’s header.
Real took the lead in the ninth minute, but Barcelona, the 26-time Spanish champions, were better in the first half.
Andreas Christensen failed to convert two chances and Raphinha had a shot held by Courtois before Roberto leveled in the 45th minute.
Lewandowski, La Liga’s top scorer with 15 goals, had his shot deflected just wide, before Real substitute Rodrygo fired the other way in the first half.
Raphinha almost won in the 74th minute but was denied by another good save from Courtois, while Lewandowski also shot wide.
Asensio had only been on the pitch for six minutes when he put the ball in the net for Real at the end, but the goal was disallowed after a strict video assistant referee’s offside decision.
Substitute Kessie then became Barcelona’s hero in the 92nd minute, finishing after good work from Alejandro Balde.
Barcelona manager Xavi said: “The league is not decided, but it is definitely a big win.
“I think we deserved to win and we were better than Real Madrid, we created more chances.”
Barcelona will be in action on April 1 with an away match at Elche before Real Madrid entertain Real Valladolid the following day.
Source: BBC
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