FC Barcelona vs Real Madrid: Five Talking Points after the draw at the Camp Nou
The first of three El Clasicos this month are now in the books and there's a lot to talk about after a 1-1 draw at the Camp Nou which gives Real Madrid a slight edge heading into the second leg of the Copa Del Rey Semifinals.
With two teams looking for two different outcomes from the match, everything seemed to play well for Ernesto Valverde and Santiago Solari. Valverde wanted to assert pressure on Real Madrid by not allowing them to score and ending the first leg with a win but Solari just wanted redemption for his side who got pummeled the last time in the Camp Nou.
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Let's now take a look at the five talking points of the match.
1) A night of firsts
It seemed as though fans and pundits alike thought Lucas Vasquez wouldn't score last night but he proved everyone wrong. Just six minutes into the match, Vasquez finished off a lovely sequence of play which started from Vinicius Junior from the left, who crossed to Karim Benzema before Vasquez tapped the ball past Marc Andre Ter Stegen despite immense pressure from Clement Lenglet.
On the other hand, Malcom, who started only for the sixth time for the Blaugranas, proved to be the difference against an aggressive Los Blancos. He knew Marcelo's experiencing a bit of a slump and he managed to capitalize on it.
In the second half, Malcom found an opening after Jordi Alba made a run from the left. Luis Suarez tried to lob the ball in but Sergio Ramos cleared it only as far as Malcom who then curved the ball past Navas and Ramos.
Both men stepped up on the plate when they were needed the most and provided a new spark in the El Clasico.