Because someone somewhere loves us, we’re being treated to three El Clásicos between Barcelona and Real Madrid in the next month. It started on Wednesday at the Camp Nou, the first leg in the Copa del Rey semifinals, with a Malcom goal vs Real Madrid leading to a 1-1 draw.
The match didn’t feature Lionel Messi or Gareth Bale in the starting lineups, though that didn’t worry Barça fans too much after they watched their side eviscerate Los Blancos 5-1 without Messi in October.
With the Blaugrana leading LaLiga by six points (eight above Real Madrid) and playing at home, they were the favorites coming in. Barcelona has won a record 30 Copa del Rey titles, including the last four.
Despite playing on the road, and with Bale starting on the bench, Real Madrid dominated the opening minutes of the match with precise passing and positioning. The visitors were rewarded in the sixth minute when Karim Benzema showed great control on a cross from Vinicius Jr. before assisting Lucas Vazquez for the opening goal.
Even after getting an important away goal, Los Blancos looked likely to score again.
Benzema could have had two or three goals had Vinicius made better decisions in the final third. And when he did make the right decision to pass to Benzema, he over-hit a pass. The young Brazilian also called his own number on a failed three-on-one opportunity.
On the other end, Keylor Navas was magnificent in goal in the first half.
He denied Malcom in a one-on-one opportunity that was called offside after the fact but would’ve stood under VAR review. Later in the half, Malcom shimmied around the edge of the box before setting up Luis Suarez, only for the Uruguayan to have his well-place shot parried away by Navas.
When Barcelona did beat Navas, the woodwork was there to save the Costa Rican, as when Ivan Rakitic struck the crossbar with a header off a corner kick.
The second half was won by Barcelona, barely.
The Blaugrana evened the score in the 57th minute after a wild sequence that included Luis Suarez hitting the post before Malcom shot into an empty net. Sergio Ramos looked like he could have headed the ball away, but he seemed to shy off thinking the ball would be going out of bounds, or perhaps thinking Navas was back in goal to catch the shot.
It was a wacky goal, but an important one for Barcelona. While it wasn’t absurd in the same way as some recent goals from the Blaugrana, it will be every bit as memorable coming against their archrivals.
Soon after the equalizer, in the 63rd minute, both Messi and Bale were brought on off the bench for their respective teams. Even with the introduction of perhaps the two most talented players in Spain, the teams struggled to create further chances.
The only great chance for either team in the final 30 minutes came in the 82nd minute when Real Madrid tried to replicate the absurdity of Barcelona’s goal, but Bale failed to capitalize.
The 1-1 draw will give Real Madrid a slight edge on away goals heading into its home leg of the Copa del Rey semifinals, which will be Feb. 27 at the Bernabeu. The two teams will meet in a fourth El Clásico of the season on March 2, again at the Bernabeu.
But we're still trying to figure out where Marcelo was on the Malcom goal vs Real Madrid.
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