EL CLASSY KO
Junior turns star attraction as he breaks Leo’s scoring record and helps shatter Real’s winless run
LIONEL MESSI made history only for young upstart Vinicius Junior to steal the spotlight and snap Real Madrid’s El Clasico hoodoo. The Argentine achieved a landmark as he became the first Barcelona player to feature in 43 of these head-to-heads, overtaking former team-mate Xavi. But one Messi feat cued the loss of another as Vinicius broke the magic maestro’s record as the youngest player to score in an El Clasico this century at 19 years and 233 days. Sub Mariano Diaz added a second in injury time as Real ended a run of seven Clasicos without a win to leapfrog Barca by a point at the La Liga summit. Real’s loss at Levante was followed by another defeat to Manchester City in the Champions League in midweek. And a trio of stellar saves from Thibaut Courtois, the second of which to deny Messi in a one-on-one, stopped them slipping to No.3 by halftime. Barca No.1 MarcAndre ter Stegen refused to be outshone, flinging himself to h i s left to divert Isco’s curling shot away from the top bin before Gerard Pique booted the same man’s header off the line. Courtois responded by denying ex-Middlesbrough striker Martin Braithwaite, who had raced through on goal in 69 minutes, as Real prepared to profit.
Two minutes later Toni Kroos was given time to pick a pass into Vinicius, who raced into the box down the left before beating Ter Stegen with a shot that deflected off Pique and in at the near post.
Pique skewed a giltedged header wide in 83 minutes before Mariano, with his first touches having just come on for Karim Benzema, ran past centre-back Samuel Umtiti and beat Ter Stegen with a shot from a tight angle.
Youssef En-Nesyri’s injury-time finish gave Sevilla a 3-2 home success against 10-man Osasuna and saw Julen Lopetegui’s side move up to third.
The Moroccan opened the scoring and Lucas Ocampos doubled the lead just before the break.
Things got worse for the visitors when keeper Sergio Herrera was sent off early in the second half.
But Osasuna rallied and goals from Aridane Hernandez and Roberto Torres levelled things only for En-Nesyri to head a late winner for Sevilla.
Meanwhile, Moussa Dembele grabbed both goals as Lyon beat St Etienne 2-0 to leap five places to fifth in Ligue 1.
The ex-Celtic star buried a glancing header in 27 minutes before a dinked injury-time penalty after Yann M’Vila’s handball.