Barca, Real all square
Barcelona and Real Madrid drew 1-1 in the first leg of their Copa del Rey semi-final at the Camp Nou, with Lucas Vazquez and Malcom both getting on the scoresheet in a game of two halves yesterday.
Lucas gave Madrid the lead after just six minutes. Vinicius Junior came in from the left wing and floated a ball for Karim Benzema, who had pulled out to the right, and the Frenchman took a touch before picking out Lucas, who guided the ball into the far corner with his left foot.
It was not until the 57th minute that Malcom was able to equalise for the Blaugrana, who were the better side in the second half.
Barcelona centre-back Clement Lenglet played a long ball into the left channel for Jordi Alba to chase, yet Keylor Navas got there first and the ball found the feet of Luis Suarez.
The Uruguayan attempted a left-footed shot that hit the post, and it made its way to Malcom who scored from the right-hand side of the box, with his shot creeping just inside the post, avoiding the Madrid defenders on the line.
Sergio Ramos put his hands in the air, thinking it was going wide.
Going into the game, the noteworthy news from the line-ups was that Lionel Messi was only fit enough for the bench, yet the Argentine entered the fray in the 62nd minute as he replaced Philippe Coutinho. Elsewhere in the Barcelona eleven, Arthur was selected over Arturo Vidal, while MarcAndre ter Stegen played in the Copa del Rey for the first time since January 2017 due to Jasper Cillessen’s injury.
Malcom started instead of Messi and the 21-year-old had an excellent game, capping it off with Barcelona’s equaliser. For Madrid, their line-up saw Keylor Navas replace Thibaut Courtois as this is ‘his’ competition.
The same applies for Marcelo, who started at left-back instead of Sergio Reguilon.
In midfield, Marcos Llorente was given the nod ahead of Casemiro, while Vinicius Junior kept his place ahead of Gareth Bale.
The first half saw Madrid dominate as they not only took an early lead but had chances on a regular basis.
They would often have four or five players pushing forward as soon as they won the ball back, with the attacking trio of Lucas, Karim Benzema and Vinicius all implementing a high press.
Despite this, they could not find that illusive second goal, instead wasting many opportunities that came their way.
Madrid could have made it 2-0 in the first half if Vinicius had looked up, yet the 18-year-old failed to see Benzema wide open to his left as his shot was blocked.
The bright spark for Barcelona in the first half was definitely Malcom as he had a wonderful partnership with Nelson Semedo down the right.
The 1-1 scoreline makes things interesting going into the second leg at the Santiago Bernabeu in three weeks’ time.