Liga Report: Barca Push Madrid To The Limit
Barcelona earned a thoroughly deserved point in a scintilating 1-1 draw against Real Madrid in the Bernabeu as Ronaldo and Luis Enrique scored against their former clubs.
Barcelona earned a thoroughly deserved point in a scintilating 1-1 draw against Real Madrid in the Bernabeu as Ronaldo and Luis Enrique scored against their former clubs.
The classic encounter lived up to the hype with goalmouth chances, bookings galore, a red card and a full-scale scuffle as the tension of the occasion threatened to boil over.
Despite predictions that the home side would walk this, Madrid were never allowed to settle into any kind of rhythm by a well-organised Barca side that were definitely up for the fight.
Ronaldo and Xavi fired the opening salvos for either side as the Brazilian shot wide before the Spaniard curled over in the opening minutes.
Patrick Kluivert was presented with the first clear opportuntity as he was picked out by Luis Enrique 14 yards from goal, but his shot hit the diving Iker Casillas and went away for a corner.
Madrid then opened their account after 16 minutes.
Claude Makelele's flick was headed down by Raul into the path of Ronaldo who calmly slotted the ball past Roberto Bonano.
Even though Real netted the opener, a rout never looked on the cards as Luis Enrique fired his side up and encouraged them to push forward.
When Xavi had again failed to hit the target with another effort, Luis Enrique stepped forward to show the way.
Marc Overmars' cross was headed goalwards by Kluivert, but Casillas was equal and pushed it out. Juan Pablo Sorin slid into connect with the rebound, but could only slide it into the path of the Barca captain who hit the net from close range.
Extravagant goal celebrations followed as Luis Enrique goaded the home fans after his 32nd-minute strike.
In a game played at such speed and with so much at stake, it was no surprise to see the referee kept busy.
But the official was very controlled when not picking out a culprit for a mass brawl minutes before the break, despite producing 11 yellow cards during the match.
Gaizka Mendieta was adjudged to be offside after he had poked the ball past Casillas and Ronaldo headed over when he should have done a lot better with Michel Salgado's cross in the last action of the first half.
The tackles continued to fly after the interval as the pace of the game never subsided.
Kluivert, Mendieta, Salgado and Luis Figo all spurned opportunities to give their respective sides the lead before Ronaldo saw a firm header bounce back down off the underside of the bar and hit Xavi on the line.
But the frustration of the home side grew and their evening was summed up when Salgado slid into Overmars from behind to earn his second booking of the evening and ultimately a red card.
Despite being down to ten men it was Madrid that had the last chance of the thrilling match with Zidane producing a superb save from Bonano.