FC Barcelona came away with a 1-0 win over Real Madrid in the first leg of their Copa del Rey semi-final on Thursday night.
Copa del Rey
Result: Real Madrid 0-1 FC Barcelona
Date: 02 March 2023
Venue: Santiago Bernabeu
Los Blancos made two changes from their draw against Atletico Madrid, as Luka Modric and Eduardo Camavinga were recalled while Rodrygo was only fit enough to start from the bench after he missed that game through injury.
Barca, meanwhile, were without talisman Robert Lewandowski due to a hamstring injury and that meant Ferran Torres led the line with support from Gavi and Raphinha on either side.
The sides were not giving much away in the early stages but Madrid looked much lively on transitions but they were not yet precisive with the final ball in the last third.
After going back and forth, Xavi's charges broke the deadlock on 26 minutes after Franck Kessie had a shot saved by goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, which rebounded off Eder Militao and found the back of the net, with the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) overruling the on-field offside decision.
Carlo Ancelotti's men only clicked into gear towards the end of the first stanza after Toni Kroos released Dani Carvajal through on goal on the right side of the box but Carvajal fired his volley over the crossbar and Los Blancos went to the break trailing by an odd goal.
Madrid almost had the perfect start in the second stanza after Vinicius Junior curled a deflected shot towards the far post that missed agonizingly wide.
Barcelona had a much better resistance after that and Ancelotti made a tactical change on 66 minutes in search of the equaliser, as Rodrygo replaced Nacho to add numbers in attack.
After absorbing the pressure up to the last 18 minutes, Blaugrana fancied their chances going forward and they should have doubled their lead after Kessie found a lot of space in the box from a cut-back by Torres but his shot towards the bottom corner was unfortunately blocked off the line by his teammate Anssumane Fati.
The game was on the edge in the closing stages, with Madrid looking for openings against a deep lying Barca and Rodrygo almost levelled matters two minutes before time after he cut inside the box and curled a strike that missed not far from the top corner.
Barca held on in the end and will take a 1-0 advantage to the second leg at the Camp Nou in early April.
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