(AFP) - Barcelona put a step forward in the final with a valuable victory in the El Clasico match against its host Real Madrid 1-0 on Thursday, in the first leg of the Spanish Cup semi-finals in football.
And Real signed at its “Santiago Bernabeu” stadium in the prohibited, as it gifted the match’s only goal to its rival, starting from a passing error by Frenchman Eduardo Camavinga, which Barcelona players took advantage of with a shot that hit Brazilian Meringue defender Eder Militao and turned into the net by mistake (26).
The return match will be held at the Camp Nou on April 5.
The Frenchman, Aurelien Chouamini, and the Belgian, Eden Hazard, sat on the bench, while the Italian coach, Carlo Ancelotti Camavinga, joined the German veterans, Toni Kroos, and the Croatian, Luka Modric, in the middle. And pushed defender Nacho Fernandez on the left corridor.
Frenchman Ferland Mendy and Austrian defender David Alaba were absent due to injury.
On the Barcelona side, coach Xavi Hernandez pushed French defender Jules Conde as a mainstay, with Ferran Torres in the lead alongside Gavi and Rafinha. Ansu Fati sat on the bench, while Frenchman Osman Dembele, Polish Robert Lewandowski and Pedri were absent from injury.
Barcelona entered the match at the top of the league, 7 points ahead of arch-rivals Real, but faced Al-Merengue after losing 0-1 to Almeria.
As for Real, it came out tied in the capital's derby against arch-neighbor Atletico 1-1.
Fate varies in the European arena, as Real achieved a historic victory in the home of Liverpool, England, 5-2 in the first leg of the Champions League final price, unlike Barcelona, who exited the qualifying supplement for the final price of the European League competition “Europa League” against Manchester United, England (2-2). 2 and 1-2).
Real failed to avenge its loss to Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup final 1-3 in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, on January 15, in the first titles for its former midfielder, current coach Xavi Hernandez.
With a single shot in the first half, Barcelona, who only had 40 percent possession of the ball, scored the first goal, to show its realism, benefiting from a mistake from Camavinga and a goal through friendly fire from Militao, whose team failed to shake the net of its opponent, as he shot 5 times without hitting the woodwork. the three.
A minute after the starting whistle, Real kicked off the ball to pass Daniel Carvajal in the depths to Modric, who was not offside, so he hit a ball from the right side into the outside net.
Real believed that he had opened the scoring after an attack by the Brazilian Vinicius Junior on the left side inside the area, to pass to the second post to Karim Benzema, who controlled the ball with his chest and hit his left foot into the net, but the referee canceled the goal for offside the French striker (12).
Barcelona waited until the 22nd minute to reach the Real area after a free kick 35 meters away was carried out by Marcos Alonso inside the area, which was removed by Uruguayan Federico Valverde.
Barcelona opened the scoring with friendly fire after a bad pass from Camavinga and a mistake by defender Militao, who returned the ball to his team’s net after a pass from Ferran Torres to Ivorian Frank Kessier on the left of the area, to shoot the latter and block Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, so the ball returned to the Brazilian and collided with him and into the goal (27 ).
The referee canceled the goal for offside Rafinha when Torres passed to Kessier, but the return to the video assistant referee "VAR" confirmed the validity of the goal.
Carvajal missed the equalizing goal after a pass from Kroos on the left side, 30 meters away, which the Spaniard followed on the fly over the goal (41).
In the second half, Vinicius tried with a powerful shot that was blocked by German goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen (57), while Ansu Fati, who entered instead of Rafinha, stopped his team from doubling the score after a shot from Kessier passed Courtois and collided with the Barcelona striker (72).
And Ancelotti paid the Brazilian Rodrigo instead of Nacho and Chuamini in place of Kroos and Alvaro Rodrigues instead of Modric to activate the attack, and Xavi responded by removing Kessier and introducing Sergi Roberto with the aim of preserving the score.
Rodrigo hit a powerful ball from outside the area to the left of goalkeeper Ter Stegen (90), without Real equalizing.
Barcelona midfielder Sergio Busquets played the 46th El Clasico in his career, which is a record against the two colleagues in Paris Saint-Germain, former Real defender Sergio Ramos and former Barcelona star, Argentine Lionel Messi (45 each).
"We knew how to compete, and the team did a great job physically, we were very strong, and we were able to stop them through the middle," captain Busquets told TVE.
And he continued, "Although they had possession of the ball, they did not get clear chances, in return we had the goal, which is a small difference for the second leg."