Barcelona took advantage in the first leg of the second semi-final of the Copa Del Rey when they faced Real Madrid at Santiago Bernabeu on Thursday. It was the third meeting between both sides as they each got a win off the other in their previous two meetings.

This time around, a place in the final of the Copa Del Rey was always there a winner of the tie on aggregate, and it was Barcelona who got the edge after their 1-0 victory over Real Madrid. It was a big meanie that came despite the absence of Poland striker Robert Lewandowski who was injured.

Nevertheless, Xavi’s side got into the lead and the eventual winning goal in the first half. It didn’t come easily, as Real Madrid had a goal from Karim Benzema disallowed for offside in the 11th minute.

Some 13 minutes after, Barcelona got the winning goal when Eder Militao scored an unfortunate own goal. Despite the dominance from Real Madrid, they failed to put any shot on target, while Barcelona ended the game with a win going into the second leg at Camp Nou.

Barcelona once again showed why they have only conceded eight times in 23 games in La Liga this season as they stood the barrage of Real Madrid’s attack.

The Catalonians went into the games shaky on form, no thanks to their last two games that ended in losses. They may be at the top of the La Liga table with a seven-point difference, but a win wasn’t going to come easy at Bernabeu.

Despite the dramatic start to the game that saw Vinicius Junior get into a scuffle with Frankie De Jong and Karim Benzema’s disallowed goal Barcelona got a bit of luck in their winning strike.

First, it was shot from Frank Kessie that was initially saved by Thibaut Courtois, only for the rebound to ricochet off Eder Militao, while defender Nacho tried to clear the ball off the line, it was already too late.

Daniel Ademiju Idowu