A remarkably contentious — almost hilariously so — El Clasico ended 2-2, a result that won’t particularly bother Real Madrid but one that sees Barcelona extend this season’s unbeaten league run to 35 matches. If you’re a Real Madrid fan, Barcelona got away with murder; if you’re a Barcelona fan, Real Madrid got special treatment. So just another El Clasico, really.
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.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise but El Clasico is lit. Barcelona began the match on the front foot with Lionel Messi getting on the ball in some dangerous areas for the champions-elect.
However, the opening goal was started and finished by Luis Suarez, the Uruguayan releasing Sergi Roberto on the wing before expertly finishing the Spanish full back’s immaculate cross in the 10th minute.
Roberto’s final ball was spectacular, but this is just brilliant forward play from Suarez.
Although Barcelona has already celebrated its La Liga title, the stakes are as high as ever ahead of this spring's edition of El Clasico. Real Madrid will almost certainly finish the season in second or third, but they'll be plenty motivated to keep Barcelona from joining the ranks of invincible soccer teams.
Yes, Cristiano Ronaldo’s bicycle kick against Juventus was very nice. And of course, that title-clinching hat-trick that Lionel Messi registered against Deportivo was very nice as well. But does that mean, with regards to Sunday’s El Clasico, that we should only focus on the 10-time Ballon d’Or winners?
Liverpool booked their ticket to the 2018 Champions League Final against Real Madrid on Wednesday with a 7-6 aggregate win over Roma. Now that the semifinals are over, all the attention now shifts to the final in Kiev, and rightly so. But have Liverpool already won the match before it’s even started? Here’s why that might be the case.