Barcelona beat rivals Real Madrid 1-0 in the first leg of the Copa Del Rey semi-final at Santiago Bernabeu thanks to an Eder Militao own goal in the 26th minute.
The goal had been ruled out for offside against Raphinha but was later awarded by VAR after it was determined that the Brazilian played no part in the move. Earlier, Karim Benzema’s would be opener had been disallowed for offside.
With a goal down, Real Madrid created several chances to try and equalise but none of them yielded anything. Their best chance came in the first half in the 41st minute when Toni Kroos found an overlapping Dani Carvajal but the full-back’s powerful volley went just high.
In the second half, both teams scrambled for possession but none posed a big threat in front of the goal. Real Madrid’s Rodrygo came close to finding the equaliser in the last minute of the normal 90 as he cut inside and sent a shot towards Barca’s goal but it went agonisingly a few inches wide of the top-right corner.
In the 6th minute of stoppage time, there was a fuss in Barcelona’s box as Real Madrid tried to score to at least take a draw to the second leg of this big fixture, however, the ball couldn’t just go in as Militao tried to redeem himself with an overhead kick.
There was a VAR check for a possible Marcos Alonso handball but he was found innocent, and the resulting corner was not fruitful.
Real Madrid now have all to play for in the second leg and Barcelona will make sure they stop their rivals from proceeding to the final once again.
