Key events
41 min Vinicius gets away, crosses low and hard … just too hard for the sliding Rodrygo.
40 min On the subject of corners, is it the case that players are trying to score from them these days? I feel like i’ve seen a fair few efforts look to hit the far top-corner and Raphinha is definitely looking to catch the keeper under the ball.
38 min Bellingham is a spectator. I think what should be done with him is what Roberto Mancini did with Yaya Touré: start him deep where he can control the game, then if you need something later in the game, get him closer to the opposition goal. Meantime, Barca have another right-wing corner and again, Raphinha spins in an animal, a succession of defenders and attackers contriving to miss it.
36 min Madrid look to reestablish control, moving the ball about at the back before moving through midfield, Rodrygo carrying the ball at inside-right, but his flicked pass seeking Vinicius is intercepted.
34 min Raphinha curls the free-kick over the top.
33 min It’s been a strange half-hour really, Barca scoring when second-best and staying second-best, Madrid scoring when on top before immediately losing control. And, as I type, Yamal gets in behind Camavinga, who trips him because he has to; Barca need to feed him whenever possible, because he’s got it over his marker.
31 min Yamal attacks Camavinga on the outside, Camavinga slides in … and does just enough, getting a bit of the ball before Yamal clips him in order to fall over. No penalty.
30 min No goal and on we go.
29 min There’s a pause while VAR investigates, but with no conclusive evidence either way and without goalline technology, we go with the on-pitch call. And, as I type, we see it again, this time from an angle that implies not all of the ball was over the line.
28 min He goes low to the near post – avant-garde of him – the ball clips Vazquez, and Lunin shovels out from on or beyond the goalline depending on your bent. It looked in to me I must say, but it’s very hard to be sure from the angles we’ve seen, the keeper’s body blocking the camera angle.
28 min Barca win another corner, Raphinha to curl in…
27 min “I was brought up short when I realised that Kroos is twice Yamal’s age,” says Kári Tulinius. “Then my brain just about shut down when I worked out that Modric is over two decades older than Yamal, and that I can remember seeing Modric play before Yamal was born. I meant to watch some football, but now I’m contemplating the inexorable nature of time.”
As Bob said, ‘“none of them can stop the time”; as Nas echoed, Time is illmatic.
26 min Since conceding, Barca have managed to stem the flow of Madrid attacks and are moving the ball about themselves now. It’s a bit slow, but they’ve a few able to inject pace out of nowhere.
24 min “I think we are all contractually obliged to say ‘Hay Liga’ at this point,” writes Jamie O’Sullivan. “I’m also in disbelief that Pedri is getting the rest he needs, when he needs it these days.”
I’m sure we’ll see him later, but in the meantime Barca have another corner … this time headed over the top by Lewandowski. They look dangerous fro set-pieces.
22 min Bellingham sends a long one down the left for Camavinga, who skates around Yamal only to overrun the ball and win a corner off De Jonh; it comes to nothing.
21 min I’ve got a question about Jude Bellingham: like Cesc Fabregas, he’s so good on the ball that moving him forward makes some sense. but it also means, especially against other good teams, he’s barely involved. The first time I saw him play I thought “Bryan Robson” and there’s no higher praise than that. But he’s now half the player he could be because we’ve lost his ability to run with the ball and hit long passes.
19 min Given how this is going, it’s hard to see how Barca win here. They were handed a goal, but as soon as that happened they’ve barely got out, and not many sides can offer Madrid the run of the Bernabeu and make off with anything.
GOAL! Real Madrid 1-1 Barcelona (Vinicius Jr pen 18)
Vinicius opens body, punches bottom right … ish … and Ter Stgen goes the right way but there’s just enough power to take it past him – he gets fingertips to it but no more.
Penalty to Madrid!
17 min Vazquez skirts around Cancelo, whose challenge is tame, skips along the by-line, Cubarsi dangles a leg, and he makes certain to fall over it.
15 min Do Barca have the defensive mettle to ride out pressure? Because they’re going to have to. Ands as I type, Vazquez crosses, can’t pick out Bellingham, and Araujo clears.
14 min Yamal isolates Camavinga, dashes around the outside of him, and crosses low; Lunin gets it behind, and the corner comes to nowt.
14 min What do you get if you cross a midfielder with a hip-hop act given to wearing jeans the wrong way around?
Kriss-Kroos
13 min It’s a decent ball too, Rodrygo and Rudiger up, Cubarsi between them; it’s Rodrygo there first, but he heads high.
12 min Madrid maintain pressure, winning a free-kick on the edge of the box, right of centre; Kroos will swing it out…
11 min Madrid knock it about outside the Barca box, Modric moving and dictating. He feeds Lucas Vazquez, whose cross is cleared, the Bellingham plays into Rodrygo, whose backheeled return asks too much of his mate.
10 min Yeah, Madrid are pushing the pace now, Camavinga charging down the left and running out of pitch. Back to the goal, Lunin is the latest to prove my unarguable footballing truth: dodgy keepers save penalties.
8 min The game hadn’t got going yet; well it has now! And back coem Madriud, Tchouameni flipping into the box, where Luka Ormondroyd wins the flick-on … and on the stretch, Vinicius sends his shot over the top! He made decent contact there, and that little passage showed how easy it can be to carve out a scoring opportunity.
GOAL! Real Madrid 0-1 Barcelona (Christensen 6)
He’s a goalmachine! One in Paris and now, when Raphinha swings in a brute, Lunin flaps underneath it and Christensen nods into the unguarded net! The title race is still alive!
5 min Barca win a corner down the right, Araujo and Christensen tramping forward.
4 min We’ve not got going yet but Madrid suddenly swarm forward, Valverde leading the charge, but when the ball reaches Vinicius on the edge, his shot is blocked at source.
2 min Mistake from Lunin, dipping shoulder to evade Lewandowski before passing straight to Raphinha; he can’t control and Tchouameni sweeps clear.
1 min I guess Xavi is looking to nick this, staying solid and hoping his attackers can conjure sufficient. That feels like a forlorn hope, but if his back four play well, Barca have a chance.
1 min And away we go!
We’re ready to go…
Our teams are tunnelled … and here they come! What a feeling this must be, walking up those stairs and out into this. Enjoy it, boys.
Is tonight a good time to play Madrid? They expended a lot of energy at City, physically and emotionally. The experience of Modric and Kroos might help in that aspect, especially because Barca’s midfield doesn’t look equipped to run them out of it.
In the studio, Albert Ferrer is talking about Raphinha’s new hybrid attacking midfield/winger role. He’s looked good recently, but it’s the lad on the opposite flank who we’ll all be watching; Lamine Yamal is a potential superstar, and will fancy himself against both Madrid full-backs.
How funny that while Kroos and Modric are in tandem once more, Casemiro is chipping penalties straight to Champo goalies. I wonder if Ancelotti is anticipating a slow-paced game after both sides exerted themselves so ferociously in midweek; I guess Marca’s midfield isn’t the most physical, so he’s trusting class and nous above legs and physicality.
“Had not seen the Bernabeu redesign until today,” admits Sean Orlowicz. “It looks like a very large external hard drive. What an atrocity.”
I dunno. I think it looks quite sleek, though not like Archibald Leitch designed it, and inside I’m sure it’s still one of, if not the greatest footballing theatre in the world.
Email! “I have no horse in this race,” says Adam Griffiths, “but Barcelona putting out their line-up in squad number rather than position order means I want them to get a) fired from a catapult into a volcano and b) a right doing tonight.”
I am, of course, impartial, but also I can’t argue with facts.
I guess what Christensen might give Barca is a passing option. Both he and and De Jong can drop in between the centre-backs and move the ball forward, but it means there’s a lot of creative responsibility on Ilkay Gundogan.
Back to Pedri, I really, really hope he can get himself fit enough to be the player he should be: the best or among the best of his generation. The combination of eye, technique and intelligence is sensational.
The Bernabéu looks swish from on top, it has to be said. Not much like a football ground, more a space station – or, put another way, they might’ve copied the Reebok.
As for Barca, they make one change from their midweek horror: Pedri drops to the bench, with Andreas Christensen taking his place in midfield. That feels a bit like replacing your strimmer with a brick, but there you go.
Those teams, then. Real Madrid welcome back Aurélien Tchouaméni, who’ll play centre-back; he replaces Nacho, who served his earthly purpose in midweek. At right-back, Lucas Vázquez is in for Dani Carvajal, who might still be tired from his exertions well into next month; at left-back, Éduardo Camavinga moves out of midfield to replace Ferland Mendy; and into the gap in midfield arrives Luka Modric.
Aha, it appears our pre-match presentation amounts to … nothing? But Atlético are 1-0 down to Alavés with two minutes left – great news for Girona who, if the score remains the same, will be very close to the Champions League.
I’m just back from Wembley, 6 years older than I was this morning and am now getting myself sorted with a sub to the relevant channel. After which hen we’ll talk properly about what all this means.
The teams!
Preamble
They couldn’t could they? Barcelona begin today eight points off the top and by any measure are less good than Madrid, their European fortunes illustrating the gap: Barca lost a tie they might’ve won, Madrid won a much harder one they should’ve lost.
However! After ploughing through 90 minutes and extra time chasing the ball, it might just be that the euphoria and dump – physical and mental – extract a toll. And if they do, Barca absolutely have the players not only to win tonight but to make the title race a race again.
Because make no mistake, this Madrid side are not there yet, their presence at the top of the league and in the Champions League last four a reflection not of their coherence but of the incredible individuals who have defined their club since the fifties. Thing is, Barca are over-furnished in the same department, their attackers good enough to devastate any opponent and their defending improving.
As such, there’s plenty of added heat to a contest that requires no such thing. Let’s get involved!
