On Sunday, March 23, Barcelona played Real Madrid, in one of the most famous soccer matches in the world, known as "El Clássico". The game started well for Barcelona, with Lionel Messi sending Andres Iniesta through on goal in the 7th minute, and that was 1-0 for Barcelona. It is normally Iniesta who plays Messi through, not the other way around. Madrid kept pressing, and in the 20th minute, some sloppy defending from Javier Mascherano led to Karim Benzema equalizing. 4 minutes later, Mascherano left Benzema unmarked again, and Benzema scored a second to make it 2-1 for Madrid. The game stayed like that, up until the 41st minute,when a beautiful one-two play with Neymar led to Messi finish to make it 2-2 before the break. Just after half time, in the 54th minute, a unintentional trip by Dani Alves on Ronaldo, led to a penalty shot for Madrid. The replays showed it was just outside the box, and should not have been a penalty, but Ronaldo took it and scored, anyway. 3-2 for Madrid. In the 63rd minute, Neymar was running through on goal. Ramos intentionally gave him a shove, and what looked like and unintentional trip. Neymar went down, and some people think too easily. In my opinion though, Neymar is very quick, but extremely weak. The slightest contact from a tall and strong man like Ramos, could send him down. Also, I believe that he stumbled from the shove, and fell right into the path of the flailing foot of Sergio Ramos. Messi delivered from the penalty spot, and that was 3-3. Then, in the 83rth minute, Iniesta got tripped by Xabi Alonso, and another penalty was awarded. Messi scored his hat-trick, and is now the all-time leading top goalscorer in El Clássico. After the match, Ronaldo accused the referee of favouring Barça, and saying that the refs in La Liga don't want Madrid to win. He has been suspended for his claims by the BBVA.
To watch the match highlights, click this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aKCw8VaUnQ
To watch the whole game in HD, click this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etAF2uCgeJE
