Here’s Sid Lowe’s report from Madrid.
Luka Modric speaks to La Liga TV.
We’re happy with the win, the performance, we are really pleased. We knew their would be periods where we had to suffer as Barca keep the wall well. We did so, and later we were clinical. We are really happy with this match. I think we played outstandingly. Karim - we all know what’s going to happen. I hope he wins the Ballon D’or and he deserves it for everything he does for us.
Barcelona were top of the table at the start of the day but are now three points behind their eternal rivals.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Real Madrid | 9 | 14 | 25 |
| 2 | Barcelona | 9 | 17 | 22 |
| 3 | Atletico Madrid | 9 | 8 | 19 |
| 4 | Real Sociedad | 9 | 3 | 19 |
| 5 | Athletic Bilbao | 9 | 11 | 17 |
Full-time: Real Madrid 3-1 Barcelona
Real Madrid win the first Clasico of the season, a game they had a tight grip on that loosened, only for them to tighten it once more with that late penalty. They had too much expertise and nous for the Xavi project. Vini Jr and Luka Modric were outstanding, and though Ansu Fati made a real difference on coming on, Madrid were deserved winners.
90+3 min: Just when Barcelona were causing all those problems, the rather accident-prone Eric Garcia commits an unwitting foul.
Goal! Real Madrid 3-1 Barcelona (Rodrygo 90+1 pen)
Rodrygo doesn’t send Ter Stegen the wrong way but has too much power for the German. That’s that.
90 min: VAR is called into play and Rodrygo looks to have been fouled by Eric Garcia, after a pass from Valverde. The ref goes to the screen and we know what that means…
88 min: Two Madrid changes: Carvajal for Rudiger, Benzema for Asensio. Rudiger is wearing a very fetching mask to protect the facial wound he received in midweek. He is no stranger to a facial wound.
87 min: All Barcelona now, Fati causing all sorts of problems and Roberto almost sets him up by heading the ball off Mendy but the youngster can’t keep the ball on target.
85 min: Vini Jr leaves the field while Rodrygo comes on, but Madrid are rocking. Xavi’s squad strength is shown by the difference that Gavi, Fati and Torres have made.
Goal! Real Madrid 2-1 Barcelona (Torres, 83)
Fati sets it up, speeding to the byline, and his cross finds Ferran Torres who steers home. Game on!
Updated
83 min: Final Barca change: Kessie on, and off goes Pedro who was kept quiet.
82 min: Kounde, who has looked good amid the problems, steps forward for Barcelona, holding off opponents as he does so. Then the ball comes to Gavi, whose shot is knocked behind.
80 min: Lunin has the ball in hand for the first time in a while, as Lewandowski’s attempt from a Ferran pass deflects into the goalie’s path. Barca keeping at it.
78 min: Barcelona again are looking comfortable in possession, and then step it up. Gavi lays up Fati and he smashes one wide. Off goes Modric for Camavinga, another dominant performance from the absolute master.
76 min: Real Madrid are preparing Camavinga to come on as Barcelona step it up, looking for a grandstand finish.
74 min: Lewandowski brought down in the box. Xavi wants a penalty. He doesn’t get one. Barcelona haven’t had one all season.
73 min: On comes Fati, off goes Dembele for Barcelona.
72 min: Ansu Fati is imminent for Barcelona, who win a free-kick in a dangerous position but Lewandowski just wallops the ball straight at those in the Madrid wall. And Alba has to commit a tactical foul on Kroos.
70 min: Lewandowski remains on the sniff for a Clasico goal and heads wide.
69 min: Ter Stegen claws Modric’s cross away. The home fans are loud, and really enjoying this one. Modric is taking the Michael with his skill, as the best midfielder of the last decade, perhaps even of the 21st century. Xavi wasn’t bad, mind, and his team could do with something like him.
68 min: No Real subs as yet, they still look full of zest. Vini Jr and Benzema both almost get on the end of Modric’s probing. Real win a corner.
66 min: De Jong clatters into Kroos. He’s not had the best game, the Dutchman, the midfield battle won by Real Madrid’s calm, efficient play.
64 min: Alba, as ever, will look to bomb on down the left.
62 min: Now, what can Barca do? Those changes suggest a more direct approach and Dembele goes on the right. It’s also a reminder of how many more players Barcelona have signed. Loads of talent but, and despite entering the day top of La Liga, it’s not quite working out, is it?
60 min: Three Barca subs: Busquets, Balde, Raphina off. Gavi, Jordi Alba and Ferran Torres on. Alba will go left back.
Updated
57 min: Nice Barca move loses its slickness when De Jong clogs the ball too wide for Balde to reach. It’s not working out.
55 min: Kroos tries to get Vini Jr away but this time Kounde is alert to the pass. That’s a far fairer fight than against poor Sergi Roberto.
54 min: The next goal looks more likely to come from Real Madrid, and Xavi is about to make three changes. He has to do something. This could get ugly.
52 min: Benzema has the ball in the net, and went into a full celebration after a clubbing finish. But…he was offside.
50 min: Valverde, what a player, sends the ball out left to Benzema, who tries to lay up Kroos but the German cruiser can’t keep his shot down.
48 min: By the way, no change was made by either manager. Seems Xavi trusts the process.
47 min: This picture an illustration of where the first half was won and lost.
𝗡𝗼 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝗶𝗺. pic.twitter.com/SJK6RvhGSk
— LaLigaTV (@LaLigaTV) October 16, 2022
46 min: A team plenary is taking place among the Barca players as they descend the Bernabeu steps. Xavi looks glum on the bench, his chinos ruffled. Back they go again, a mountain to climb.
More Euro focus from the boy Wilson.
Maybe football isn’t a commodity, its value to be determined by its utility in the market: maybe it just is what it is. And that thing, whatever it is, at least in England, has never been so popular; attendance figures now, across the divisions, are higher even than in the post-war boom. Maybe it isn’t broken. Maybe we don’t need to destroy this great pyramid of interlinked communities just because the old elites are making such a mess of it.
Half-time: Real Madrid 2-0 Barcelona
In the Barca dugout, Xavi is talking to his brother, and plenty to work on. Real Madrid have picked off his team rather too easily. The two goals were similar, laid on a plate for Benzema and Valverde to stroke home. It’s Real who seem to have control of the levers.
44 min: Barcelona pushing on, Real happy to sit back and soak it up, that’s where their goals have come from.
42 min: Barcelona need to get to half-time, and Xavi needs to go back to the drawing board. His team are all at sea. Lewandowski gets a glimmer of a headed chance but Eder Miltao smothers him, and the danger is cleared.
40 min: Arty close-ups show Lewandowski looking pained. Unlike Benzema, and even allowing for his Tom Brady-style diet, he won’t be getting the chance to play in 40 Clasicos.
38 min: Valverde snarls into a challenge. Death or glory stuff. Real have the greater aggression, and the bigger belief, too.
36 min: The difference between these teams is the quality of chance created, and also the calm with which they are taken. Barca also have no answer to Vini Jr. To think some call him one-dimensional. Well, it’s some dimension if that’s the case. He has destroyed the Barcelona defence.
Goal! Real Madrid 2-0 Barcelona (Valverde, 35)
Modric and Lewandowski tangle. It’s getting a bit tetchy out there. But then Madrid soak up pressure. It’s Vini Jr at the heart of it, going clear. He holds the ball up. Tchouameni’s pass is set up for Valverde to drill home. That was so well-executed.
Updated
33 min: Barcelona dominating territory, trying to be patient in looking for their moment, and Kroos has to deflect the ball behind
32 min: Modric is telling Vini Jr to not be such a wally. Such a good player, also a bit of a whinger and complainer. He plays right on the edge.
30 min: First booking is Vini Jr for dissent after Kroos fouls De Jong, he can’t stop chatting.
29 min: Lewandowski has taken a whack to his chops from old teammate David Alaba. No foul and he will have to wipe himself down and go again. A drop-ball is called. Luni almost gets in trouble with that one, almost a De Gea. But eventually the ball is launched.
27 min: Sergi Roberto, perhaps relieved he isn’t having to chase Vini Jr, has supplied a couple of crosses, and Barca are causing more problems.
25 min: What a miss! Busquets gets away, and Pedri slips in Raphina and it’s Lewandowski sliding in at the back post. He misses. He might have been offside, too. But better from Barca.
23 min: Busquets is being sat on, man-marked, and that’s preventing the ball reaching Pedri, let alone Lewandowski. It’s been a masterful tactical performance from them, their manager the arch-tactician Don Carlo.
21 min: Barcelona attempt a slow buildup but that allows Madrid to get back in numbers, even Benzema getting involved. Poor old Bob Lewandowski hasn’t been able to get on the ball at all.
19 min: Valverde on the attack down the right. Then Modric holds his position and possession. There’s a suggestion Mendy elbowed Raphina but nothing doing there. A hand-off, nothing more.
17 min: Barcelona haven’t been able to dictate play as Xavi would like. Or like he once did. Madrid’s speed on the attack and quality in midfield dominating this one so far.
Updated
15 min: Some levers to pull for Xavi but it was Toni Kroos’ brave pass and awareness that created the goal. Like Modric, he remains a master.
14 min: Benzema the Ballon D’Or man, was not going to miss, and Vini Jr’s speed against poor Sergi Roberto, was never going to be a fair fight.
Updated
Goal! Real Madrid 1-0 Barcelona (Benzema, 12)
Pedri steals the ball in a highly dangerous position but is forced wide and his shot is no threat. The ball gets deflected back out and away go Madrid. It’s Vini Jr, of course, who screams past Sergi Roberto, after Kroos beats Busquets to the punch. The shot is saved by Ter Stegen but it comes out to Karim Benzema. You know the rest.
Updated
10 min: It’s been open fare so far, and all the better for it. Not quite shock and awe of eras gone by but plenty of talent on show, and two ropey defences. Vini Jr down the left is seeing plenty of the ball. Big afternoon for Sergi Roberto, these days a veteran.
8 min: First big Real attempt. Vini Jr cuts in, across Sergi Roberto, and his shot deflects behind.
7 min: Madrid try to get Carvajal down the wing but the teenager Balde sweeps up. Barca go down the other end, and Dembele gets motoring, holding up the ball, and slide in Lewandowski, whose shot is wide. There’s a flag, but that was threatening.
5 min: First Barca effort of the game. Raphina is slotted in by De Jong and wallops one wide.
4 min: This the 100th Clasico at the Bernabeu, and it’s started with both teams trying to impose their style. Barca are passing it around, Real are going direct when they can.
2 min: Early spin from the Vini Jr box of tricks but this time he won’t be getting the better of Jules Kounde. And in fact falls over.
1 min: We are go at the Santiago Bernabeu, and the tifos in the still unfinished stands are reassuringly massive. Xavi, in chinos, looks intent on the sidelines. Don Carlo Ancelotti is in his suit, and already barking instructions.
Fun and games in His Majesty King Charles III’s English Premier League.
Philip Podolsky gets in touch: “Funny how perceptions change: I don’t think that five years ago anyone would’ve omitted Suarez and Aguero from a shortlist of Millennial strikers, however select. But then five years ago few would’ve selected De Bruyne ahead of Hazard as the greatest Belgian footballer of his generation whereas now etc. Everything is in constant flux is what I’m saying.”
Stat attack from Opta. Translation here.
5 - Ferland Mendy , from @realmadrid has not lost any #ElClásico in all competitions (W4 D1). Only Steve McManaman (7L 3V 4D) has played more official classics without losing than the Frenchman among the players who debuted in this duel in the 21st century. Amulet.
5 - Ferland Mendy 🇫🇷, del @realmadrid, no ha perdido ningún #ElClásico en todas las competiciones (4V 1E). Solo Steve McManaman (7P 3V 4E) ha jugado más clásicos oficiales sin perder que el francés entre los jugadores que debutaron en este duelo en el siglo XXI. Amuleto. pic.twitter.com/5BkXiJnLbs
— OptaJose (@OptaJose) October 16, 2022
In goal for Madrid is Andriy Lunin, the Ukrainian, who has replaced Thibaut Courtois, who hasn’t recovered from the back injury that’s kept him from playing in the last four matches.
The teams via social media.
📋✅ Our #ElClásico starting 𝗫𝗜! 👊 pic.twitter.com/9dePCKwbv9
— Real Madrid C.F. 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@realmadriden) October 16, 2022
🚨 BARÇA XI 🚨#ElClásico pic.twitter.com/fgIDOQCuLY
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) October 16, 2022
Updated
There they are, the lads. The Super League lads.
🤝 Florentino Pérez y Joan Laporta presidieron el almuerzo oficial que se celebró antes del Clásico.#RealMadrid pic.twitter.com/u7nEblON9n
— Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadrid) October 16, 2022
Sponsorship news here, per Reuters.
Barcelona will sport the owl logo of Drake’s OVO Sound label on their jerseys instead of main sponsors Spotify when they take on Real Madrid on Sunday to mark the Canadian rapper surpassing 50 billion streams on the music platform. Barcelona, who were one of the last major clubs without a shirt sponsor, said the move was part of their efforts to bring football and music together. Four-times Grammy award winner Drake posted an image of the limited-edition jersey on Instagram to his more than 120 million followers. Barça lead La Liga on goal difference ahead of Real Madrid.
Well done, Drake, on trousering the £22.50 approx you get for 50 billion streams….Don’t spend it all at once, mate.
Robert Smithson, perhaps missing my rather poor joke, admits to pedantry: “If we’re being pedantic about the use of definite articles in Spanish and English, it would be “The first Clasico of the season”. If we’re extending pedantry to diacritics, it would be “The first Clásico of the season”. Apologies.”
(The joke being that people call it The El Clasico like The MLS. Jokes that have to explained are dead jokes so well done, Robert, for making me feel so small. He’s right, of course. )
Sid Lowe, who will be our man in Madrid later, spoke to Luis Figo, someone who embodies the morbo of this eternal rivalry.
I had everything in Barcelona, but you think: ‘It’s not like I’m going to a second-rate club.’ If it hadn’t been Madrid, maybe I wouldn’t have gone. It’s a challenge, a decision based on feeling valued, convincing me I was going to be an extremely important piece. It could have been a cagada, a cock-up, but it wasn’t, thank God.
The Netflix documentary is still well worth a watch.
What do these teams mean?
As predicted, Modric is back into midfield from the team that drew 0-0 with Shakhtar in midweek. Eden Hazard drops out as Vinicius gets the nod. Dani Carvajal, Eder Militao and David Alaba come in for Lucas Vazquez, Toni Rudiger and Nacho.
Jules Kounde is back in the line-up in place of Gerard Pique who struggled in that fateful 3-3 with against Inter in the Champions League. Frenkie De Jong also returns is in in place of Gavi while 18-year-old Alejandro Balde replaces Marcos Alonso.
The teams
Real Madrid XI: Lunin, Carvajal, Militao, Alaba, Mendy, Tchouameni, Kroos, Modric, Valverde, Vinicius, Benzema.
Barcelona XI: Ter Stegen; Roberto, Garcia, Kounde, Balde; De Jong, Pedri, Busquets; Dembele, Lewandowski, Raphinha
Preamble
The first The El Clasico of the season, and it’s a top of the table clash. As per usual, right? Well, not exactly since Barcelona, top of La Liga on goal difference, are staring down a Champions League abyss and need the domestic scene as a fig leaf for their European problems. That came, of course, after Barça attempted to raise themselves with some Kwasi-style economics, pulling more levers than The Fat Controller. Real Madrid have sat back and been far more circumspect. Having called off the dogs in the Kylian Mbappé hunt, they are in the process of a partial rebuild, with Aurelien Tchouameni in the midfield, and the likes of Luka Modric rested on occasion, though the latter great man will be lining up here.
It’s also Robert Lewandowski’s first Clasico, where he will face Ballon d’Or elect Karim Benzema, playing in his 42nd, battle of 34-year-olds, the two best strikers of their generation. This fixture will always possess such star quality, and though this game may not have hit the hype levels of You Know Who v Him Too it’s sure to throw up storylines aplenty, and hopefully lots of good football.
The kick-off is 3.15pm UK time. Join me.
