Barcelona won against Real Madrid in
International Champions Cup. Barcelona got the better of Real Madrid by a final
score of 3-2 in the team's International Champions Cup match in Miami on
Saturday night.
The hype leading up to
the match was matched by the drama in its opening seconds-as Neymar suffered an
early injury and was forced off before returning minutes later.
Winning Moment |
Shortly after the
knock to Neymar-Lionel Messi opened the scoring for Barcelona-evading Luka
Modric with a deft touch and then seeing his shot take a fortuitous deflection
off Raphael Varane.
Neymar made an
immediate impact upon his return-dribbling down the left flank and playing the
ball across the top of the penalty area where Ivan Rakitic smashed home from 18
yards to make it 2-0 inside of eight minutes.
Madrid looked shaky in
the opening 10 minutes-but they quickly cut the deficit in half when Mateo
Kovacic beat Gerard Pique in the 13th minute and neatly finished from 18 yards
away past Jasper Cillessen.
Karim Benzema nearly
had Real back on level terms-using Marco Asensio as a decoy on the
counter-attack before blazing his left-footed shot just wide of the post.
Barca needed just four
passes to go from their end to the Madrid penalty area in the 28th minute-with
Luis Suarez setting Neymar up only for the 25-year-old's shot to roll just wide
of the far post after some slick footwork.
And Asensio would
level in the 36th minute on the counter attack-getting a return pass from
Kovacic after a long run and firing past Cillessen after beating Jordi Alba in
the penalty area and send the teams to the dressing room at 2-2.
Gerard Pique wasted no
time putting Barcelona back in front in the second half-getting on the end of
an inswinging Neymar free kick and volleying home over Keylor Navas after some
woeful defending by Madrid.
Navas would come up
big minutes later though-doing just enough to force a Neymar miss after he'd
broken free in the Real Madrid penalty area.
At the other
end-Cillessen answered his opposite number with a fine save from an Isco strike
that looked certain to even the score between the La Liga rivals.
Wholesale changes came
after the hour mark-with Messi coming off for Barcelona and the match settling
into the type of pace more usual in a friendly.
However-just past the
80-minute mark-it was Cillessen denying Isco again after the attacker cut in
from the left and curled a shot toward the back post that would have gone in
had it not been for the fingertip save of the Barca keeper.