Real Madrid beat Barcelona 3-2 in first El Clasico of 2022

Real Madrid wins the first El Clasico of the year 3-2 against Bacelona. Substitute Federico Valverde scored the game-winning goal, completing a dangerous breakaway to keep Madrid in the game.

Barcelona started with a dangerously high defensive line that left Real a lot of space in behind them, and Vinicius could have taken advantage of it with an early chance that he fired straight at Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

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Marco Asensio was given another chance to open the score after another counter, but he couldn’t keep his curling effort down. Vinicius, fortunately for Real, could.

After 25 minutes, Vinicius sprinted towards goal on another counter, flashing his new-found poise to slam past Ter Stegen.

Barcelona put Thibaut Courtois to the test for half an hour. Luuk de Jong received a cross from the dangerous Ousmane Dembele, whose thunderous header was direct at the goalkeeper but served as a reminder of his potential.

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Barcelona finished the half strongly, as De Jong equalised just before the break. Eder Militao attempted to clear a cross but hit the Dutchman, who had no idea what was going on as the ball slid across the line.

After the break, substitute Pedri came close to adding a second, shooting a long-range effort agonisingly wide of the left post, before Dembele smashed a volley past the other.

Barcelona dominated the game in the early stages, with numerous attempts on goal, but they struggled to hold possession of the ball, and their shaky build-up limited clear-cut chances.

However, there are only 20 minutes left. Karim Benzema was born. He hit the post, then Ter Stegen made a wonderful save, but he lingered in the six-yard box and tapped home from close range.

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Real appeared to be in command coming into the last ten minutes, but Ansu Fati came up with a late header to send the match to extra time.

The final goal arrived in the same manner as the first. A high line from Barcelona gifted Real with so much space in behind midway through the first half, and Federico Valverde scored following a great dummy from Vinicius to send Los Blancos to the final.