Barca stays on unbeaten track
But Ronaldo injury is main Madrid worry after cantankerous Clasico
BARCELONA — Ten-man Barcelona stayed on course for an unbeaten season as a late Gareth Bale equalizer salvaged Real Madrid a 2-2 draw in a fiery Clasico at Camp Nou on Sunday.
Madrid’s night was soured by an ankle injury to Cristiano Ronaldo, who now faces a race to be fit for the Champions League final against Liverpool on May 26 in Kiev.
“It’s a small thing,” Real coach Zinedine Zidane said after the match. “He is a bit worried and right now the ankle is a bit swollen, but he said it is not so bad.”
Gerard Pique’s challenge on Ronaldo came as the Portuguese canceled out a Luis Suarez opener before Sergi Roberto was sent off on the stroke of halftime for an altercation with Real defender Marcelo.
Barca, however, took the lead in the second half as Lionel Messi scored a brilliant goal only for Bale, who could earlier have been sent off, to have the last word in a thrilling Clasico with an emphatic strike to earn Real a deserved draw.
After initially having treatment on his ankle, Ronaldo played on for 31 minutes before Zidane decided to substitute him at halftime, which might at least offer Real encouragement.
“I can’t say how long he’ll be out for. It’s just the movement, tomorrow we’ll see,” Zidane told Movistar. “The Champions League final? We’re going to do everything to make it.”
Fears that this meeting, which meant little in terms of the standings, might lack intensity proved groundless as a pulsating contest, littered with controversy, could have been won at either end right up until the final whistle.
Ronaldo’s injury, coupled with Barcelona avoiding defeat, despite playing a man down for the whole of the second half, meant the Catalans departed the happier side.
Ernesto Valverde’s men, already crowned champion, are now three matches away from becoming the first team ever to finish a 38-game La Liga season unbeaten.
Andres Iniesta overcame, or perhaps ignored, a nagging calf problem to play his 38th and final Clasico while Philippe Coutinho was picked to start his first.
Iniesta went off to a standing ovation in the second half.
Barca exploded out of the blocks and took the lead inside of 10 minutes. Suarez swept the ball out to the right, where Sergi ignored Messi’s run to the near post and returned the cross deep to Suarez, who finished into the bottom corner.
The lead lasted just four minutes.
A neat Ronaldo backheel freed Toni Kroos, who found Karim Benzema at the back post before the Frenchman headed back across goal as Ronaldo bundled home despite Pique’s intervention.
After receiving treatment to his ankle, Ronaldo was temporarily able to continue and could twice have given Real the lead. His first shot was saved by Marc-Andre Ter Stegen, the second sailed wide of the far post.
In between, Messi fed Jordi Alba with a sumptuous ball over the top but even he lost his cool during five mad minutes at the end of the first period.
Suarez felt he had been elbowed by Sergio Ramos, prompting the first round of scuffles, before Messi was booked for flying into the defender on the touchline.
Bale was then lucky not to be sent off for stabbing his studs into Samuel Umtiti’s calf, and moments later Sergi threw a hand into Marcelo’s face.
The home fans were raging as the halftime whistle blew but, with Marco Asensio on for Ronaldo, they were celebrating eight minutes after the restart.
Suarez’s blatant kick on Raphael Varane went unpunished and from there it was all about Messi.
The Argentine superstar skipped away first from Ramos and then from Casemiro before firing into the bottom corner.
Real struggled to capitalize on its one-man advantage until the 72nd minute, when Bale raced onto Asensio’s pass and whipped the ball firsttime into the top corner. It was the Welshman’s 15th goal in 24 matches this year.
Real should have had a late penalty when Alba cleared out Marcelo, but the referee somehow decided the challenge was clean.