It’s never a proper El Clasico without a bit of blood and thunder (coupled with some extremely cringeworthy theatrics), but a brilliant opening 15 minutes has been followed by some pretty pathetic (but extremely entertaining) bickering from both sides, culminating in a straight red card to Sergi Roberto just before the halftime whistle.
The football, at one point, was breathtaking — Luis Suarez’s excellent opener canceled out by a fine Real Madrid goal, finished by Cristiano Ronaldo. However, things began to boil over in the 44th minute when both Suarez and Sergio Ramos were booked for some antics.
Ramos left a little bit in on Suarez after the Uruguayan had already passed the ball, and Suarez threw himself to the ground in extremely Suarez fashion. Ramos then tried to pull him off the ground, and the Barcelona No. 9 sprang to his feet to tell him to stop that.
They were both shown yellow cards.
Sigue subiendo la temperatura y el árbitro corta por lo sano, amarilla para @luissuarez9 y Messi en el @fcbarcelona_es y para @sergioramos tras otro conato de bronca #beINElClasico pic.twitter.com/C4uktYQOVM
— beIN SPORTS Español (@ESbeINSPORTS) May 6, 2018
Moments later, Messi played the role of the goon and retaliated by leaving one in on Ramos. The Camp Nou loved it.
Messi returning the favour for Sergio Ramos’ foul on Suarez #ElClasico #ElClasicoDrama #GOAT pic.twitter.com/XvRrdhyiRc
— KF (@_VeniVidiVeci_) May 6, 2018
Shortly after that, Gareth Bale did the same to Samuel Umtiti.
El árbitro perdonó a @GarethBale11, le entró por atrás a Umtiti y el juez le sacó la amarilla #beINElClasico pic.twitter.com/fI09vtn0fi
— beIN SPORTS Español (@ESbeINSPORTS) May 6, 2018
The climax was reached when Roberto was shown a straight red for throwing a “punch” at Marcelo after the Brazilian full back had agitated the Spaniard.
¡ROJA! Se va @sergiroberto10 expulsado luego de soltarle un golpe a @MarceloM12, El @fcbarcelona_es se queda con 10 en el cierre del primer tiempo #beINElClasico pic.twitter.com/kdQg0XDbnf
— beIN SPORTS Español (@ESbeINSPORTS) May 6, 2018
Cristiano Ronaldo, who was limping after his equalizing goal, has been substituted over the break.