Real Madrid won the most recent rendition of El Clasico by two goals to nil on Sunday, in a game that might have gone down as one of the worst derbies in recent history if not for a late double-salvo from Vinicius Jr. and Mariano Diaz.
It was pretty terrible viewing over the 90 minutes, but the game did start as Clasicos tend to. It was fiery, tense and attritional, with the first booking arriving after just 20 minutes when Vinicius went in late on Nelson Semedo.
Vinicius jr is stupid actually
— Clinton (@Nkgadimaclinton) March 1, 2020
10’ – Yellow card Vinicius Jr
Mateu Lahoz wtf!?! First challenge and a yellow!?
— RMadridHome (@RMadridHome_) March 1, 2020
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??Neither side had too much to shout about in the opening stages, but there was some excitement about a familiar face in the VIP boxes at the Bernabeu…
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Some good goalkeeping was about all there was to note from 70 long minutes. Both ?Thibaut Courtois and ?Marc Andre ter Stegen showed their class as we trudged clumsily towards a second 0-0 stalemate of the season between these sides.
Oh my Go—ter Stegen! ??
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) March 1, 2020
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But, after absolutely ages of something we can only very loosely call ‘football’, things finally happened. Barcelona threw on Martin Braithwaite, and the ultimate banter substitute almost paid off, with Raphael Varane required to clear his effort off the line.
Braithwaite has been on for a few minutes and is already looking like our most dangerous player going forward. He has to get a goal tonight.
— sm (@TacticoModerno) March 1, 2020
Braithwaite doing more in 5 mins than what Messi and Griezmann did all game.
— Brilliant Busquets ?? (@brilliantbusi) March 1, 2020
Immediately after it seemed as if ?Barça had taken the lead, however, it was the hosts who found it. Vinicius had taken some flak for his performance, but he was the player to get the better of ter Stegen and give ?Real a much-needed lead.
Vinicius has become the youngest La Liga goalscorer in El Clásico ahead of Lionel Messi.
Trust in our youth! This is the future! pic.twitter.com/Rnm5I6KnX7
— Real Madrid Analysis (@rmdanalysis) March 1, 2020
And then we were truly spoiled, as Mariano Diaz treated us to a second goal – on his first La Liga appearance of the season, no less.
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Mariano Díaz hasn’t played a single second of football in LaLiga this season, comes on in El Clásico and after 1 minute bombs down the right wing, into the box and fires Real Madrid 2-0 up.
Bursts into tears and the place goes wild.
What. A. Story. pic.twitter.com/5Zw6Xxu1dq
— Andrew Miller (@AndrewMillerNBA) March 1, 2020
I don’t want to see any Madrid fan speaking bad of Mariano Díaz ever again. What a player.
— Real Madrid Castilla Stats (@CastillaStats) March 1, 2020
??That would be that, as Real take the initiative in the title race no-one wants to win.
Let’