THIS IS EL CLÁSICO!

Let's just say, there's a reason why El Clásico is considered as the biggest fixture in world football. While it has certainly lost some of it's hype in the past couple of years, but on Wednesday night, we got to see the fierce and unparalleled rivalry between Real Madrid and Barcelona as Madrid claimed a narrow win against an encouraging Barça display. 

Let's be honest, no one expected Barcelona to even compete against a Real Madrid side which is easily one of the top 5 teams in Europe right now, and therefore, coming into this game, Los Blancos were the clear favourites. However, Madrid was in for a big surprise as it was their rivals who were in control of the game for large portions. 

Madrid's strategy for this match was simple, soak up the pressure and hit Barcelona on the counter. While it did work considering they ultimately won the match, however with a midfield trio of Modrić, Kroos and Casemiro, Real Madrid should've been the team to dominate their opponent. In the past couple of matches, this was Madrid's worst performance in terms of controlling the game, but they still went on to win the match which shows the level at which they are right now. As for Barcelona, apart from the fact that they lost, their fans should very well take pride in the manner in which their team played today. 

It was an end to end match which could've gone either way. The match started with Real Madrid seemingly the brighter side as Vinicius scored the opening goal in the 25th minute to bring the scoreline to 1-0. Goal by Vinicius and assist by Benzema, same day same story. Those two just can't be stopped right now.

It was after going 1-0 down that Barcelona switched their gears and got an equalizer just before halftime. Dembélé caused the problem for Madrid down the left flank and sent a low cross into the middle. Militão tried to sweep it away, however, the ball deflected off Luuk's foot and ended up inside the net despite the best efforts of Courtois.

The first half ended with the scoreline 1-1. Barça desperately wanted to prove a point by winning this huge fixture. In the 72nd minute, Los Blancos again took the lead as Benzema scored the goal from close range after Ter Stegen produced a magnificent save to stop his earlier effort. Barcelona's number 10, Ansu Fati, made his return to action in the 66th minute as he replaced Frenkie De Jong who wasn't having his best game. And in the 83rd minute, none other than Ansu Fati rose to the occasion and headed the ball into the net to bring his side back into the game. I have to say, Militão and Alaba should've done better than on that cross by Jordi Alba from the left flank.

The 90 minutes were over and the scoreline was 2-2. After a long period of time, we were witnessing an El Clásico of this level.The game went into extra-time and both the teams had 30 more minutes to find the winning goal.

Barcelona went out all attack in search of a winner whereas Madrid was still happy to sit back and hit on the counter. Credit to Xavi as he made multiple substitutions to help his side dominate the midfield. As a Madrid fan, it did get a bit annoying to see my side making such late substitutions but then again, better late than never. Federico Valverde came off the bench to replace Luka Modrić and this substitution paid dividends as Valverde went on to score the winner in the 98th minute. Madrid hit the Catalan Club on the break as Casemiro released Rodrygo down the right flank. Rodrygo then sent a cutback into the middle of the box which Vinicius left for Valverde to slot it into the bottom-left corner. There came the winner and Valverde celebrated that by taking off his shirt. 

For the remaining 22 minutes, we saw an end to end game in which Barcelona tried to fight back to somehow find an equalizer while risking their defensive structure as Madrid found themselves with a couple of decent chances to finish off the game, only for them to blow them all away.

 In my humble opinion, Barça was the better team as they controlled most of the match, however, Real Madrid was more clinical with their chances which all comes down to the difference in the quality and experience of their squad. It was an encouraging display for Barcelona as no one expected this and hence all my culers should be proud of their team's mentality and hard work. 

It remains to be seen whether Xavi will be able to build upon this performance as they eye that Champions League qualification for the next season. As for Madrid, they would be motivated to perform better in the Spanish Super Cup Final on Sunday night as Don Carlo aims to win his first trophy of this season.