This was just another of many thrillers between these two historic clubs, and fans were not disappointed with a riveting end to end action and some stunning goals.
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Real Madrid grabbed the lead shortly after halftime, with Gerard Pique redirecting a Marcelo cross directly into his own net beating his teammate, Marc-André ter Stegen, to give Real a critical away goal.
It was not a good night for the Spanish center back who has so often criticized Real Madrid, as Pique picked up a yellow card to go along with the own goal. These weren’t the only two blunders he had, as he was marking both nuova Maglia Barcellona Ronaldo and Asensio when they scored their goals from outside the box late in the second half.
According to WhoScored.com, Pique finished with the worst match rating in the Barca starting XI, with a 5.7 out of 10.
In my match preview, I was curious as to who Zinedine Zidane would choose to play in the midfield and what formation he would use. The French manager elected to play four midfielders, Toni Kroos, Casemiro, and Mateo Kovacic deep in the formation, with Isco up high in his natural CAM position.
As usual, the slight alteration from the bald headed genius paid off big time as Isco was on a tear the entire match, dribbling with his usual jaw dropping ability and dropping back defensively to help and to build up the attack.
It still seems to me like Isco has the ball tethered to his foot with the way he dribbles and spins around every defender like they’re training dummies.
With his incredible dribbles and an assist on the Ronaldo goal, Isco was given the Man of the Match honors (yet again) by WhoScored as he finished with a 7.8 rating.
Barca were lucky to get their goal which came by way of a typical Luis Suarez embellishment that was awarded a penalty by the head official. Watching the play live, it appeared goalkeeper Keylor Navas slide aggressively into the leg of Suarez. However, upon further review, Navas barely touched the Uruguayan international as he grabbed at his shin and writhed around on the ground in ‘pain.’
Messi converted the penalty to tie the match at one but that was the last good chance Barca had on goal for the remainder of the match.
After Ronaldo was introduced in the 57th minute, he was incredibly quiet for the following 20 minutes. That is until he hit back on the counterattack with Isco to put Real in the lead for good.
In vintage Ronaldo form, the forward surged forward with space in front, and thanks to a great pass from Isco and some nice dribbles, CR7 was able to curl a magnificent shot into the top corner, beating the defending Pique and ter Magliette Manchester United Stegen.
The celebration was fantastic as well, as he ran to the sideline and took his jersey off, and flexed to the crowd. He also taunted the fans and Leo Messi by holding his jersey up to the crowd just like Messi did after scoring a late goal in Madrid last spring.
Ronaldo steals the headlines.
Cristiano Ronaldo was sent off just three minutes later after picking up a second yellow card which was given by the referee for flopping in the box. In his frustration, Ronaldo pushed the official in the back. This, of course, will lead to a suspension for Ronaldo, but can you blame him?
Real didn’t struggle going down a man, as they actually added their third with only 10 players thanks to the pass and masterful accuracy of the youngster of Marco Asensio.
It was an all around great match from Real Madrid and they look to be picking up where they left off last year. With the second leg Wednesday, Zidane, and company could win yet another trophy to add to his already substantial list.
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