Barca defeats Madrid 1-0 in pre-season El Clasico as Raphinha scores
Madrid's defender Éder Militão kicked the ball to pass, which landed at the feet of Barca's hero Raphinha.
New Delhi: The pre-season El Clasico was won by Barcelona as Raphinha scored a stunning goal. Raphinha’s goal was the only one scored in the game. The forward had a great start in his new club as he delivered a fine performance against Real Madrid in front of an energetic crowd in Las Vegas.
Barca played an attacking game as they penetrated into Madrid’s defence. They took 16 shots as compared to 9 by Madrid. Their front-line, much stronger with the inclusion of Robert Lewandowski, pressured Real into mistakes. Madrid’s defender Éder Militão kicked the ball to pass, which landed at the feet of Barca’s hero Raphinha. He made no mistake and shot the ball to Thibaut Courtois’ top corner to score a goal in the 27th minute.
? BOOOOOOOOM!!!! GOAL BARÇA! RAPHINHA GETS THE FIRST! 0-1! #ELCLÁSICO ?? pic.twitter.com/zDEdmbwEXu
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) July 24, 2022
Both the teams substituted players regularly, which also kept the pace of the game high. Marco Asensio created a chance to score for Real Madrid but failed to equalise. Barcelona went back with a 1-0 lead at half-time. In the second half, the substitutes Memphis Depay and Ousmane Dembélé both had chances to score, but Madrid defended well to keep Barca’s lead limited to 1-0. With an attacking play, Barca also ended up with 4 yellow cards and 15 fouls in comparison to Madrid’s 1 yellow card and 6 fouls.
After the 90-minutes time, the score stood 1-0 in favour of Barcelona, and the score stayed the same at the full time. With Raphinha’s heroics, Barca managed to win the friendly pre-season game at the Allegiant Stadium.
Real Madrid will now play Club America at Oracle Park, San Francisco, while Barcelona will face Juventus on July 27 at Rose Bowl Stadium, Los Angeles.