Barcelona came away victorious from the jaws of defeat in the second La Liga Clásico of the 2022-23 season, seeing a Real Madrid goal ruled out for offside before snatching the winner themselves in stoppage time.
Twelve points ahead with 12 games to go, Barça may already have one hand on the title.
FC BARCELONA
Marc-André ter Stegen: 5 – Caught out by the deflected opening goal to no fault of his own, and dealt with Madrid’s long-range attempts comfortably.
Ronald Araújo: 6 – Unlucky to score an own goal as the ball deflected in off him.
Jules Koundé: 5 – Lucky to not pay for a late error when he casually gave away possession, in an otherwise solid defensive performance.
Andreas Christensen: 6 – A solid defensive performance as Benzema and Valverde struggled to combine around him.
Álex Balde: 7 – Extremely involved in the offensive third. Mixed final delivery, but made it count when it mattered most with the game-winning assist.
Sergio Busquets: 5 – Lost possession in dangerous areas a few times, but controlled things well overall, aided by the tireless work of his midfield partners.
Frenkie de Jong: 8 – A relentless machine. Won eight of his nine duels, made five key passes, but put in a performance beyond the stats. Excellent in retaining and progressing possession, the star midfielder of the night.
Sergi Roberto: 6 – Grasped his chance and scored the equaliser with an opportunistic finish.
Gavi: 7 – Was crucial to Barça’s dominance for most of the game. Excellent workrate as usual, and instrumental in combining and switching play.
Raphinha: 7 – Found a lot of room in the right-half space and posed a threat all evening with his unpredictability. His shot was saved by Courtois before falling to Sergi Roberto for the goal.
Robert Lewandowski: 7 – Created the opening for the winning goal with an incredible backheel under pressure to release Balde on the left. Was a presence with his hold-up play all game.
SUBSTITUTES:
Franck Kessié: 6 – Plays a decisive role in yet another Clásico – slotting home the late winner – his first La Liga goal for the Blaugrana.
Ferran Torres: n/a
Ansu Fati: n/a
REAL MADRID
Thibaut Courtois: 8 – A great game. Warded away a number of attempts on goal, and was excellent at preventing danger by coming out of his line.
Dani Carvajal: 3 – Struggled to deal with the physicality of Balde on the overlap, caught out for the final goal, and continues his worrying form going forward, adding next to nothing productive.
Éder Militão: 7 – Put his body on the line, preventing several attempts at goal. Four blocks and five clearances by the Brazilian, although he was outfoxed by Lewandowski in the build-up to the winner.
Antonio Rüdiger: 6 – Made some crucial interventions, but was left scrambling during the last goal.
Nacho: 3 – Extremely static in his movement, putting Vinícius and Kroos under pressure on the left side. Struggled to deal with Raphinha. Booked for a needless foul and subbed off after an hour.
Eduardo Camavinga: 7 – Showed composure on the ball, opening up and circulating the ball to wide areas to drive play forward.
Luka Modric: 5 – Overrun by the Barça midfield physically, despite being good in possession.
Toni Kroos: 5 – Madrid’s most reliable midfielder on the ball, but was pinned back by the Barcelona press, keeping his distribution restricted. Left much to be desired with his defensive work, as Raphinha found space between him and Nacho.
Fede Valverde: 5 – Kept things tight defensively down his side. Passive in possession, very rarely being able to connect well in forward areas or drive at the opposition backline.
Karim Benzema: 5 – Barcelona’s effective pressure forced Benzema deeper to help Madrid’s build-up. Slow to react on numerous occasions and did not provide much threat in the box.
Vinícius Jr.: 6 – Left largely alone in driving the intensity of the attack, but forced the own goal with his persistence. Little help from Nacho or Benzema meant that his final product was mostly hampered.
SUBSTITUTES:
Rodrygo: 7 – A breath of fresh air, bringing the energy and providing an additional option up front to pose a threat. Orchestrated Asensio’s offside goal with a lovely driving run.
Marco Asensio: 6 – Like Rodrygo, added much-needed pace and energy to the attack. Seemed to have tapped in the winner, but was millimetres offside.
Dani Ceballos: 6 – Brought renewed vigour after coming on in the 76th minute as Madrid found a new gear in the latter stages. Perhaps should’ve been introduced earlier, with Kroos and Modric struggling to match Barça’s intensity.
Ferland Mendy: 4 – Caught napping in the build-up to the winning goal as Kessié snuck in behind to score.
Aurélien Tchouaméni: 6
GSFN | Roddur Mookherjee
