A bruising battle short on spectacular but high on drama saw the home team hold on
Fight not flair gave Real Madrid crucial Clásico victory
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Every installment of El Clásico is important, but there was an extra edge between old foes Real Madrid and FC Barcelona as the Rivalry Series returned from the February break in the Spanish capital on Thursday night.
Both teams were heading into the game in poor form, with Real losing its last three EuroLeague games while Barca had dropped three out of four to leave these traditional heavyweights floundering in the middle of the standings – far below their usual expectations of a top-four finish.
More pressure was piled on by domestic failure in the Copa del Rey during the break, with Barca knocked out in the quarterfinals while Real reached the final before suffering a disappointing defeat against Unicaja Malaga.
So it was no surprise that Thursday’s showdown was an intensely contested matchup, with defenses dominating for long stretches and both sets of players keeping their game faces on with little room for smiles or showtime – despite the presence of Real’s football superstars Vinicius Junior, Kylian Mbappe and Jude Bellingham to provide a healthy serving of glamour inside Movistar Arena.
Barca led for the majority of the first half and would have been disappointed to be up by only three points (40-43) at halftime. The second half was a mirror image, with Real looking dominant and repeatedly threatening to establish a big lead but the visiting team continuing to fight and somehow hanging in the game until the final stages.
Those final stages, however, were just about controlled by Real as Facundo Campazzo scored a couple of clutch tough layups and Barca missed 3 three-pointers in the last 40 seconds. The home team came away celebrating – through gritted teeth and with relief rather than joy – a very badly needed 96-91 triumph.
One of the key individual contributions came from Alberto Abalde, whose hard-charging, hustling style epitomized the nature of a game that was more about substance than style. Abalde was highly efficient as he scored 16 points on 5-of-7 field goal shooting, also dishing 5 assists without a turnover and grabbing 2 steals for a PIR of 23, just one short of his personal best.
And the hard-working forward readily admitted the significance of the win as he said: “El Clasico is always very special. Barca is a great team and we needed this one, in front of our fans, especially now everything is really tight. So this win is important for us.”
Real coach Chus Mateo will be greatly relieved to have quelled talk of the crisis surrounding his team – at least for a few days – and tried, without convincing, to claim that there is nothing unusual in the pressure facing his players right now as they attempt to climb into the playoff positions.
“Of course there is pressure,” Mateo said. “We know what this is. But we try to fight against this and try to enjoy, sometimes with suffering.”
On Thursday night there was a lot more suffering than enjoyment, and this wasn’t a pretty win. But it was enough, and it might yet also be enough to spark Real Madrid’s season.