This Sunday, FC Barcelona practically condemned the 2022/23 edition of the Spanish football league by beating title champions Real Madrid 2-1 at home and placing themselves with 12 points, after 26 of 38 rounds.
The Ivorian Franck Kessié was the unlikely ‘hero’ of the team led by Xavi Hernández. He came on in the 77th minute to seal the final victory in stoppage time, at 90+2, much to the delight of the ‘culés’ fans, who haven’t played yet. won the scepter since 2018/19.
The Catalan team was victorious in second half stoppage time, having restored the tie through Sergio Roberto, Kessié’s substitute, at the end of the first half, in the 45th minute.
The first to score, however, was Real Madrid, but not quite sure how, as they capitalized on the advantage in an own goal from Uruguayan Ronald Araújo, who deflected a header into his own net after just nine minutes, a harmless cross from the left by the Brazilian Vinícius Júnior.
The ‘merengue’ formation continued cheerfully, and after a ‘beautiful’ entry from ‘Barça’, who had two great chances in the first six minutes, from the Pole Lewandowsi and the Brazilian Raphinha, both denied by the Belgian Courtois.
With the goal, the hosts remained in the lead, against a waiting Real Madrid and after new attempts from Lewandowski and Raphinha, and also two from the Danish Christensen, they even reached the tie at the end of the first half.
Ronald Araújo crossed from the right, the Dutchman De Jong took advantage of a faulty cut to serve Raphinha, who fired against a defender again, with the ball over for Sergi Roberto, who placed him wide of the left post with class.
‘Barça’ ended the first half well and continued to dominate at the start of the second half, with two more chances for Lewandowski (59 and 67 minutes) and Raphinha another (74).
In the last fifteen minutes, Italian Carlo Ancelotti sent in the Frenchman Tchouaméni, Asensio and Ceballos, already after a bet on Frenchman Mendy and Brazilian Rodrygo, and the game started, with Real Madrid becoming increasingly dangerous.
France’s Benzema tested Germany’s Ter Stegen in the 79th minute, and in the 81st, Real Madrid really celebrated at the Camp Nou, with Asensio scoring with class after a game between Rodrygo and Carvajal, but VAR revealed an away game.
The ‘Meringues’ kept pressing and faced a ‘Barça’ who struggled to have the ball, but in the 90+2 minute, on the counter-attack, Lewandowski, with a heel between Militao’s legs, isolated Balde, who centered late from de left for Kessié’s accurate shot, to Nou Camp’s ‘delirium’.
If the draw was already good, the victory leaves FC Barcelona even more in front of the sceptre, as they now have 68 points, against 56 for Real Madrid and 51 for Atlético de Madrid, when there are still 12 games to play.
In the other games of the day, Real Sociedad, led by David Silva, kept fourth place by beating Elche 2-0 in the 48th minute with goals from Japan’s Kubo, and Ander Barrenetxea, who scored on 84 and scored on 90 .
The Basques now have 48 points and remain three above Betis, fifth, who with Rui Silva in the ‘eleven’ and William Carvalho received on the pitch from the 69th minute and beat Maiorca 1-0, thanks to a goal from Borja Iglesias, in the 48th minute.
Sixth-placed Villarreal also added the three points, trailing Sevilla by four to win 3-0 at Osasuna, with a goal from Nigerian Chukwueze (14 minutes) and two from José Luis Morales (85 and 90+3 ).
In the battle for preservation, Getafe won 2-0 against Sevilla, which they won thanks to goals from Moroccan Munir in the 50th minute and Turkish Enes Unal in the 90+5 minute.
Source: DN
