Barcelona vs. Real Madrid, 2013 El Clasico: Halftime score 0-1, It’s all going to plan for Los Blancos
Cristiano Ronaldo’s 13th minute penalty kick goal has Real Madrid up on the day and up on aggregate with 45 minutes left to play at the Camp Nou.
We've reached halftime at the Camp Nou and there's little doubt that Jose Mourinho has to be thrilled with his team's performance. They got the early goal thanks to Cristiano Ronaldo and are performing excellently on the defensive end, frustrating Barca's attack. As it stands, Madrid lead 2-1 on aggregate will progress to the final if this score holds.
In the 13th minute, Mesut Özil showed off his usual great vision finding Cristiano Ronaldo on the right side as he raced past Carles Puyol. Gerard Piqué tried to shut Ronaldo down one-on-one but only managed to trip him as he broke by and the referee quickly pointed to the penalty spot. Ronaldo stepped up and beat José Manuel Pinto.
In the 34th minute referee Undiano Mallenco really set off the Camp Nou crowd, getting in the way of Lionel Messi as he made a run into the Madrid box and causing the ball to roll out for a goal kick.
Barcelona still had a lion share of the possession in the first half but as we've seen of late from the Blaugrana, they just aren't able to do much with it. Madrid deserves credit of course for some excellent defending but you still get the feeling that a goal is coming for the home side.
Messi came very close to pulling Barca back in the 38th minute after he was taken down by Álvaro Arbeloa, just outside the Madrid box. Messi’s free kick went low and got past the wall but it couldn’t curl back inside quick enough and whizzed just past the post.
The entire Madrid defense deserves credit but once again Raphael Varane is having a fantastic match, at least through the first 45 minutes.
