Late Barça Show Stuns Madrid In El Clásico
Real Madrid so nearly held Barcelona to a draw on Saturday evening but they were denied a point by late goals from Lionel Messi and Samuel Eto'o, after the Cameroonian had been denied from spot by Iker Casillas earlier.
Barcelona took 85 minutes to break down a stubborn and resilient Real Madrid side in the Camp Nou on Saturday evening, despite having a penalty in the second-half.
The Catalan side were undoubtedly the more dominant of the two teams but they didn't create too many clear cut chances and Iker Casillas looked like he was going to be the hero as he saved a spot-kick from Samuel Eto'o with twenty minutes left.
However, the Cameroon international scored the opener with just five minutes remaining, after Carles Puyol lept highest for a corner and nodded it to Eto'o just two yards out to poke in with his thigh.
Lionel Messi then put the icing on the cake as he latched onto a pass from Thierry Henry in injury time to beat Casillas on the counter-attack.
The goals sent the Camp Nou into raptures but even though Madrid were defeated there was no sign of the humiliating scorelines talked about in the build up.
The result means that Barcelona extend their lead at the top of the table to nine points over Villarreal and move a massive twelve clear of Real Madrid.
In a high quality and fast paced first-half the best chance actually fell to Real Madrid, despite the fact that they had been outplayed for the most part, and Royston Drenthe was the guilty party as he missed a clear one-on-one chance with Victor Valdés, after been played through in acres of space.
Barcelona failed to create much and the best opportunities they had fell to Lionel Messi, who when he wasn't getting kicked off the ball, tested Iker Casillas with a couple of decent shots.
The second-half was much the same story but Barcelona were gifted a chance to take the lead with just twenty minutes left as Michel Salgado bought down Sergio Busquets inside the box. Casillas pulled off a brilliant save to deny Eto'o though and was again the hero minutes later as he saved from distance this time.
Eto'o had the last laugh though as, in typical poacher style, he pounced from two yards to tap home a Puyol header from a corner late in the game, and then Messi rounded the night off with a lovely chipped finish over Casillas in injury time.