Ivory Coast international Franck Kessie was the hero as Catalan giants Barcelona edged their eternal rivals Real Madrid in the El Clasico at the Spotify Camp Nou on Sunday night.
The former AC Milan midfielder, who came on as a 77th-minute substitute for Barca’s other goalscorer Sergio Roberto, finished off a brilliant team move with a sublime strike in second-half stoppage time, helping Barcelona to their 100th El Clasico win.
Celebrating our 100th all-time #ElClásico win! pic.twitter.com/abbiUMW4xK
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) March 20, 2023
The Culers came into the game in search of a much-needed win, having won just one of their last six games against Los Blancos in La Liga. However, it was the 35-time Spanish champions that began the game on the front foot, with French forward Karim Benzema testing Marc-Andre Ter Stegen in goal for Barcelona right from the start.
On the other end, Robert Lewandowski came close to opening the scoring for the home side, but Thibaut Courtois got two strong hands on it to deny the Polish forward. Six minutes later, Madrid broke the deadlock through an unfortunate own goal from Ronald Araujo. The Uruguayan defender, playing as a makeshift right back, turned Vinicius Jr’s cross into his own net in the 9th minute.
Barcelona came close on two occasions through Brazilian winger Raphinha and Danish defender Andreas Christensen, but Courtois was there to deny them. However, Roberto drew them level on the brink of halftime with a right-footed finish from inside the box.
The second half saw a lot of back and forth from both teams, with Marco Asensio thinking he had put Madrid ahead with a tap-in in the 81st minute, but the goal was correctly ruled offside after consultation with the VAR.
The home side made some late changes, and it paid off with Kessie’s strike beating German defender Antonio Rudiger and Courtois to give Barce a 2-1 win as he opened his La Liga goal account.
The view from up here is breathtaking. pic.twitter.com/sUAyUzyjvE
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) March 19, 2023
The win helped Xavi Hernandez’s side extend their lead at the top of the table to 12 points over their rivals as they move closer to winning their first league title in four years.
