El Clasico: Ramos Engineers Another Real Escape Act

Luis Enrique warned Barcelona they are some way off being LaLiga title contenders after the champions let victory slip from their grasp in Saturday’s Clasico showdown against Real Madrid.

It was all joy for Zinedine Zidane’s men including Cristiano Ronaldo who was frustrated through out the night as he missed so many chances.

Barcelona had much of the better chances, especially in the second half where Lionel Messi, Andreas Iniesta and Neymar all had chances to double Barca’s lead.

“It is a good point, and we keep picking them up”.

Barcelona should have taken all three points against Real Madrid. Ramos, known to be an aerial danger, took advantage of poor marking by the Barcelona defense to powerfully head past German goalkeeper Marc-André Ter Stegen to silence the Barcelona crowd.

The outcome was Barca’s third consecutive 1-1 draw following ties at Real Sociedad in La Liga and lower league Hercules in the Copa del Rey, and was also a continuation of a worrying inability to win at home.

This post first appeared on Linda Ikeji’s Blog.

Real had the better of a lacklustre first half but Barcelona lifted themselves after going in front, with substitute Andres Iniesta particularly impressive.

“It’s a bad feeling, mostly because of the equalising goal, but beyond that I think that we deserved to win”.

Football Soccer – Barcelona v Real Madrid – Spanish La Liga Santander- Nou Camp Stadium, Barcelona, …

“The first year of Luis Enrique, in 2014-15, we were in a similar situation”, Pique began, via Sport-English. Real Madrid remains unbeaten for this season. We’re pleased with the point but we know that La Liga will be tough right to the finish.

“It was hard [to take] because they scored in the last minute”, the right-back said.

“Scoring a goal like that in the Nou Camp nearly feels like a victory”, said midfielder Luka Modric, who had delivered the free kick from which Ramos scored.

Zidane concedes that Madrid “suffered” at times during the game, but was full of praise for the character and never-say-die attitude his team showed.

Once again their defensive weakness from set-pieces was exploited as they dropped points for the fourth time in seven home league games this season.

“We had opportunities to score and win, but it was a very even game and the draw is a fair result for both teams”.

“Today we saw that we are all important players, and we will need them all from here until the end”.