Real Madrid gets video assist in win over Barcelona
Defender Sergio Ramos showed once again why he is the heart of Real Madrid in leading the team to a 3-1 win at Barcelona — with a little help from the video assistant referee.
Ramos created and scored the winning goal in their first meeting of the season at an empty Camp Nou on Saturday. The clasico was yet another victory that Ramos has led in his long career at Madrid, especially since the exit of Cristiano Ronaldo two years ago.
Ramos’ importance for Madrid was seen in backto-back losses in the runup to the trip to their fiercest rival. Ramos was knocked out of the loss to Cadiz at halftime with a knee injury last weekend that also sidelined him for the Shakhtar defeat in the Champions League midweek. Without him, the team was listless and outhustled.
With him back barking orders in the center of its defense, Madrid was the aggressive, compact side that won La Liga from Barcelona last season.
Ramos likewise proved key in the opposing area when he used his wiles to grapple with Clement Lenglet to gain position for a high ball. With Lenglet tugging his shirt, Ramos fell to the turf and complained vehemently. After consulting the video screen on the touchline, referee Juan Martinez ruled Lenglet impeded Ramos from contesting the ball.
That sent Ramos to the penalty spot where he drove a low shot past Neto to restore Madrid’s lead for good in the 63rd minute.
“Both Lenglet and I take our defending to the limit, and in this case it was very clear,” Ramos said. “He grabbed me as I was jumping. The VAR is there to help and I think it was a penalty. We then went looking for a third goal after they had suffered that blow to their morale instead of just sitting back.”
Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman did not agree.
“The decision of the penalty had a final influence in the score,” Koeman said. “It is first a foul by Ramos on Lenglet. Lenglet grabbed his shirt, but not enough to bring the player down. At least not enough to make the player fall away from you, but rather to pull the player toward you. So, for me, it is not a penalty.”
Madrid leads the league with 13 points. Barcelona has 7 points with a game in hand — and added pressure when it travels to Juventus in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Elsewhere: Manches
Ater United was held by Chelsea to 0-0 in the English Premier League to leave the host without a win at Old Trafford from the opening three matches for the first time in 48 years. … Diogo Jota completed Liverpool’s comeback to beat Sheffield United 2-1 after the Premier League champions failed to win their last two games. But just a week after Liverpool wrote to the Premier League for an explanation of two contentious referrals in the Merseyside derby, the video assistant referee —this time Andre Marriner — found himself in the spotlight again.
ETC.
Tennis: Aryna Sabalenka and fourth-seeded Victoria Azarenka will meet in the first WTA all-Belarusian final of the inaugural Ostrava Open. Former world No.1 Azarenka eased past Maria
ASakkari 6-1, 6-3 to book a spot in her 40th career WTA final. Azarenka will seek her second title this year after winning the Western & Southern Open, her first trophy since 2016.
Cycling: In year filled with tragedy, disappointments and bad luck, the team that has dominated cycling for most of the past decade looks like it might finally have something to celebrate. And it won’t be Chris Froome, Geraint Thomas or Egan Bernal raising the trophy when the Giro d'Italia concludes on Sunday. Improbably, British rider Tao Geoghegan Hart is poised to give Ineos Grenadiers its first Grand Tour title of 2020. Just as unlikely, Hart is virtually tied with Australian cyclist Jai Hindley entering the final stage after nearly 2,175 miles and more than 80 hours of racing over 20 days. Thrust into a leadership role after Thomas
Acrashed and broke his pelvis in Stage 3, Hart worked his way up the standings and will be favored in Sunday’s concluding individual time trial.
Hart outsprinted Hindley to win the mountainous 20th stage, which included three climbs to the Sestriere ski resort on Saturday. “In the end you have to just try and believe anything is possible in life,” Hart said. “Certainly, before this race I wasn’t expecting this. So I’m pretty happy with how today has gone, how the whole race has gone.”
Hindley and Hart were listed with overall times of 80 hours, 22 minutes, 7 seconds. Organizers had to go back to the race’s two time trials and go down to unrevealed hundredths to determine that Hindley is the leader and can wear the pink jersey in the final stage over a mostly flat 10-mile route in Milan.