Barcelona pull away from Real Madrid in Dallas
Barcelona 3-0 Real Madrid
Barcelona pull away from Real Madrid
In a game that looked at times like it was on the edge of degenerating into a good old fashioned brawl, Barcelona slowly pulled out in front of Real Madrid. It wasn't a clear cut thing, however, and it took every single one of the 90 minutes to do so.
The opening of the game was civil and both teams showed the American audience exactly why they are among the top teams in the world, flashing brilliant runs with outstanding control. A little tiki-taka and a dash of long-ball counter attacks made for a wonder display of LaLiga talent.
In the 15th minute, Ousmane Dembelé struck a beautiful ball across the face of goal, giving Courtois no chance to save it and opening the scoring.
Madrid had their chances, most seriously when they won a penalty just three minutes later after a cross hit Araujo in the hand. But Vinicius Jr somehow struck the ball too high, and it caromed off the crossbar.
This wasn't their only chance as they took 25 total shots on goal in the game, although only 5 were on target. But for Real Madrid, five shots on target and no goals is a shocking statistic. At times it seemed as if Real Madrid were "salao" or terribly unlucky. Shot after shot bounced off the post, the crossbar, and even the keeper's back, but nothing would fall for them. Sometimes, I guess, it just isn't your day.
For Barcelona, the story was the opposite. While they certainly had a few unlucky shots of their own, the blaugrana shot just 12 times, 7 on target, and managed to put half of those into the net.
Not that it all went their way. It took until the 85th minute before they scored their second, on a sweet shot taken by Fermín López from just outside the area. And once that one fell, the third one came just five minutes later, when a Ferran Torres tip caught Courtois out and the follow up tap-in ended the game.
Both teams will have another game in the US before heading back to Spain to prepare for the long season ahead. Barcelona, however, will have a little extra spring in their step. They win the first El Clásico of the year by a 3-0 score.
Goodbye
That is going to be it from our live coverage of the US Clásico. We hope that you enjoyed it as much as we did. Keep up to date with all of the news from around LaLiga and the entire sporting world here at Diario AS.
Thank you for joining us and until next time, good night and God bless!
The demands of his first Clásico was too much for Ilkay Gündogan. The German left the game injured in the 40th minute with obvious gestures of discomfort. Early indications suggest Gündogan may have done something to his right adductor.
FINAL WHISTLE
That is going to be it! Barcelona have come out of their US tour with one victory, but it is the one that they wanted the most. Barcelona 3, Real Madrid 0 here in Dallas.
BARCELONA GOAL!
Immediately after the Real Madrid threat on the other end ot the pitch, Barcelona took the ball and managed to catch Courtois all out of sorts. He came out to defend the ball which ended up just over his head. Ferran Torres followed it up with a tap in for goal number three and Barcelona are stepping on the gas here!
SO CLOSE!
A free kick just outside of Barcelona's area nearly resulted in a Real Madrid goal. In a beautiful set piece, Toni Kroos was able to get his head on it and it flew just wide.
GOAL BARÇA!
Barcelona took advantage of a miscue in Real Madrid's defense as Fermín López Martín strikes a blazer at the net from just outside the area. What a goal! Barcelona take a commanding 2-0 lead here with just minutes to play.
REAL MADRID SUB
That signalled a change for Real Madrid as midfielder Brahim Díaz will come on for Rodrygo.
Vini Jr just wide
Finally settling into the counter attacking play that they are so good at, Real Madrid go on a run up the left side and Vinicius Jr pulls it back and shoots missing just wide of the goal. Inches away from a late equalizer!
REAL MADRID YELLOW
Defender David Alaba is shown a yellow and that is the eighth card shown tonight in a game that has bordered on chaos at times.
BARÇA QUADRUPLE SUB
Ansu Fati will come on for Robert Lewandowski in a straight striker for striker swap.
Similarly in a defender swap out, Alejandro Balde will give way for Sergiño Dest.
Barça will take out a defender in Ronald Araujo and bring on a striker in Abde Ezzalzouli.
And finally they will replace midfielder Frenkie de Jong with defender Marcos Alonso.
REAL MADRID SUB
Jude Bellingham is taken off in favor of Joselu. Replacing an attacking midfielder with a natural striker really tells you what Real Madrid's intentions are. Expect them to go on the attack.
BARÇA YELLOW
Oriol Romeu is shown a yellow card after a filthy tackle where he grabbed Vini Jr's shirt as he lost the ball. There were defenders behind him which is perhaps the only reason it wasn't a red.
A slip in front of goal
Real Madrid was knocking on the door yet again, when Vini Jr got the ball near the penalty spot and slipped as he took a touch. Had he simply hit the pass on the volley, you feel that he may have had a shot at a relatively open goal.
Barcelona seems to have weathered the initial storm brought on by the entrance of Kroos and Modric to the game, and play has settled into an exchange of passes in midfield.
SALAO!
Another shot by Real Madrid comes off the woodwork! Hitting the crossbar and bouncing off of the back of Ter Stegen before going out for a corner. They are starting to look cursed!
Real Madrid seem to be "salao" today, which is the worst form of bad luck.
With these new fresh legs on the pitch, Real Madrid are pushing higher up the pitch.
RM DOUBLE SUB
Real Madrid will make a double substitution here as Federico Valverde will give way to Toni Kroos and Edouardo Camavinga will come out replaced by Luka Modric.
Madrid are on the front foot now, pushing foreward into the area and forcing a corner.
The ball in is played out to the wing and Barcelona collects it and get it up to Lewandowski on the right wing who pushes back into Madrid's area.
Play is back and forth but ultimately for naught, as the ball rolls out the back for a goal kick.
Now Madrid break out of their defensive mold and take the ball up the other end. Vini Jr takes a long range shot that goes directly to Ter Stegen's hands. That was a waste of an opportunity.
Both teams have started the second half a little more conservatively than when they went in. Much of the play has been in the Real Madrid half, but their defense is stout, staid, and organized. They are maintaining shape and not looking flustered by the attack. Courtois has had a few shots come his way, but nothing has troubled him so far.
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We are just getting reports that Arda Güler will fly back to Madrid in the next few hours after suffering knee injury on this US tour. Read Andy Hall's report here.
SECOND HALF
Real Madrid will have the ball to get us underway here in the second half and they take the touch and we are off.
Vini Jr's penalty miss
Here is Vini Jr's penalty miss. This is how close Real Madrid were to levelling things up.
HALFTIME
The first half gave us everything: superb end-to-end play, outstanding defense, a sublime goal, and then for those who like that sort of thing there was an old-fashioned brawl.
Ugly at times, beautiful at others, this is only the middle of what has already been an outstanding El Clásico.
We head to halftime with Barcelona 1, Real Madrid 0.
REAL MADRID YELLOW
Another yellow card out now as the back end of this first half is degenerating into a physical scrap. Real Madrid's Dani Carvahal is on the recieving end of this one after a hard tackle.
REAL MADRID SUB
Fran García will come on for Ferland Mendy
BARCELONA SUB
Ilkey Gündogan will come off and be replaced by Sergi Roberto.
A BRACE OF CARDS
A bit of a tangle on the pitch leads to yellow cards being handed out on either side, with Madrid's Edouardo Camavinga and Barcelona's Frenkie de Jong both going into the referee's book.
TWO SHOTS NO GOAL
That was one of the most incredible sets of play that I have ever seen! Real Madrid had a shot when Vini Jr's turn and shoot came off the crossbar. Ter Stegen came out to deal with it and got tangled up with his own defender, going to ground. A follow up shot came off the crossbar as well! Finally, a Barcelona defender dealt with it but Real Madrid get nothing out of the transaction. Incredible!
SAVE!
What a shot! Real Madrid had a real chance there when a direct free kick made it past the wall, but Barcelona's keeper Ter Stegen made a real top-level save. Stretching out to his left, he got his fingertips to it and put it out for a corner.
The corner came to nothing and Barcelona got out of jail there.
Real Madrid's Aurélien Tchouaméni is shown a yellow card for a hard tackle. That is the first of the game for either team.
BARCELONA SUB
Eric Garcia comes on for Andreas Christensen in defense.
Once again Barcelona take the ball foreward, and once again they try that right side. Dembelé gets the ball in plenty of space and puts it across the face of goal. Too high up the pitch and it goes out for a throw in.
This game has been a real back-and-forth affair. These two titans are taking in turns to pound away, like two heavyweights standing toe to toe. We are just 23 minutes in and there is no clear pace-setter, no obvious weakness to exploit, on either side of the ball. A real masterclass!
PENALTY MADRID
Real Madrid win a penalty when a crossed ball catches Araujo's hand in front of goal. Vini Jr takes it and it comes off the crossbar! What a terrible mistake! He had beaten the keeper, but just pulled the ball too high. A wasted chance for Real Madrid.
Real Madrid are all adrift here, looking completely flustered and out of shape. Barcelona bring the ball foreward again and have another poke at the goal. Madrid gets numbers back and defend it well.
GOAL
Barcelona have won a free kick in a dangerous area here, just on the right wing, about ten yards out. It is taken low and passed on to Dembelé who slams it with authority across the keeper's face. It rattles the net and Barcelona are up!
A long ball for Dembelé finds him JUST offside. He was all alone and Madrid need to mark him better than that. They dodged a bullet there, because he was off to the races.
Madrid are not finished with this attack, however, as Rodrygo has another go at the goal, requiring a more forceful effort from Ter Stegen to stop it.
Real Madrid waste no time in trying to fire back and bring the ball down into the Barça area. A well-centered pass finds a Barcelona head and the ball is taken by the keeper. Barcelona looked much better in dealing with that attack, getting numbers ackquickly.
Lewandowski puts one into the area and it comes out to Romeu who fires a bullet at the goal. It gets past the keeper and comes off the crossbar! So close to a quick Barça goal.
Madrid waste no time going on the attack, with a long probing ball foreward finding Rodrygo in the area. He pulls it back but there is no help in the middle and it is harmlessly put away by Ter Stegen.
Barcelona looked plodding and pensive in defending that ball, and they had better wake up.
KICKOFF
Barcelona takes the kickoff and we are away.
Unlike in Spain, there are several examples of split allegiances within the same family. Father with a Barcelona shirt on while his young son sports the Real Madrid strip.
The stadium is packed and the fans are largely made up of latinos who live in the US and Mexico. There is a good mix of shirts on show, but Madrid would seem to have the larger share of the crowd.
It will be interesting to see how Barcelona come out here in Dallas. They have been under the weather for the past few weeks since coming down with a stomach bug in California. Against Arsenal, they looked very weak, not at all like the dominant force that we are accustomed to seeing.
AT&T Stadium holds 80,000 people, and while the final numbers are not yet known, organizers say that they expect a "near capacity" crowd to file in for the game.
Real Madrid kicked off their preseason tour of the US with a 3-2 win over AC Milan in the Rose Bowl before shutting out Manchester United 2-0 in Houston.
Barcelona have struggled with their first match in northern California against Juventus cancelled due to much of the Catalan side falling ill with gastroenteritis, before falling 5-3 to Arsenal in Los Angeles.
Inside the Death Star
The crowds outside are impressive, and inside the stadium is just as impressive.
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El Clásico: Barcelona and Real Madrid possible starting XIs for the first Clásico of the 2023-24 season. Our very own Kieran Quaile takes a look at how both sides might choose to square off in Dallas.
Welcome to our live coverage of the US Clásico, as Barcelona and Real Madrid clash in Dallas, Texas.
This is a pre-season friendly, but that may be in name only, as these two ancient rivals will both be playing for all that they are worth. Pride is more important that meaning when it comes to these two teams, and they will both want to go back to Spain with the bragging rights to start the LaLiga season.
This will be the third time that the Clásico has been held on US soil, with Barcelona winning in 2017 and again last year. While Barcelona leads the total meetings with 123 wins to Madrid's 108 and 64 draws, in the regular season games it is Real Madrid who hold the edge, winning 102 to Barcelona's 100 and 52 draws.