Madrid Hold Barca In Copa Clasico

Real Madrid gained a measure of redemption at the Camp Nou by holding Barcelona to a 1-1 draw on Wednesday and taking a slight advantage in the semifinal of Copa del Rey.

After an impressive opening 20 minutes, Madrid were largely second best in a compelling, if unspectacular, Clasico but the result leaves them well-placed heading into the second leg at the Santiago Bernabeu on February 27.

For Los Blancos, a resilient, gutsy display will also help erase the memory of their humiliation here in October, when they were thrashed 5-1 , a result that caused Julen Lopetegui to be sacked the following day.

Barely 10 seconds had passed before Toni Kroos snapped into Ivan Rakitic, setting the tone for what was a dominant opening spell from Madrid.

Vinicius Junior jinked inside Nelson Semedo and teed up Kroos before producing the cross that created the goal, an arching ball over the head of Jordi Alba, which Karim Benzema tucked back for Vazquez to poke in.

Barca had been just as frantic, with Luis Suarez even tripping over his own feet. But they improved and after half an hour, were in the ascendancy.

Malcom missed a one-on-one and then became their best player for a period, crossing for Rakitic to head against the bar and teeing up Suarez to sting the hands of Keylor Navas.

The home fans called Messi’s name at the start of the second half and when he jogged up the touchline shortly before the hour, they roared as if for a goal.

They did that soon after too. Navas rushed out to block Alba before Suarez curled a brilliant shot that beat the diving Sergio Ramos but not the post.

It spilled to Malcom and he still had work to do, curling in from 20 yards to get the Camp Nou on its feet.

Messi came on, along with Arturo Vidal, Bale and Casemiro, but neither side seemed sure how much to commit for a winner.

All to play for at the Santiago Bernabeu.