7 goal “Clasico” lifts Barcelona morale

Leo Messi scored a hat trick at the Bernabéu on Sunday

A seven goal thriller is what you would call Sunday’s Clásico at the Santiago Bernabéu which saw Barcelona take home the spoils to Catalonia in this fiercely contested derby match.

It started as expected, after a minute’s silence for the recently deceased Adolfo Suarez, at breakneck speed with both sides rushing up and down the pitch in a bid to take first blood. It was Andrés Iniesta who scored first with a goal after 6 minutes of play, hitting the top of Diego Lopez’s net with a thunderous shot.

Messi was in charge of the rest of the goals and scored a hat trick including 2 penalties. Real Madrid also had a penalty given after a foul on Ronaldo, but seeing the video footage after, it was clear that it was outside the box.

Real Madrid had enough chances to seal the game in the first half with Karim Benzema missing two clear chances. There was also controversy when Sergio Ramos was sent off leaving the “Blancos” with ten men and Pepe had a face off with Fabregas and both players went down clutching their faces. In the ensuing melée, Pepe got his face trodden on by Sergio Busquets. Whether it was intentional or not, is another matter. See photo below.

Busquets treading on Pepe

In the end it was Barça’s night and they came away with 3 very valuable points that could mean the difference of winning the Spanish league or not. Coach Gerardo Martino said after the match that “They gave us up for dead, now the league has begun again”.

Leo Messi also became the highest goal scorer in the history of the Clásicos between Real Madrid and Barcelona. Barcelona went to the Santiago Bernabéu with a job to do and they finished it to the highest standards.