Barcelona 1-3 Real Madrid: Ronaldo steals the show for good and bad

Barcelona 1-3 Real Madrid: Ronaldo steals the show for good and bad

Cristiano Ronaldo y Sergio Ramos no han viajado
Cristiano Ronaldo y Sergio Ramos no han viajado | sport

Madrid won the first leg of the Spanish Super Cup tie at Camp Nou

Ronaldo scored the second goal then was sent off for his celebration and a dive

Mayhem. That’s the best word to describe it. After a nervy first half the game descended—or ascended, rather—into utter mayhem.

Gerard Pique opened the scoring. At the wrong end. The defender slid in to try and divert Marcelo’s low, driven cross, and did so - beyond the dive of Marc-Andre ter Stegen and into his own net.

Barcelona struck back when Luis Suarez won a penalty as he went down in a clash with Keylor Navas, a little fortuitously, and Messi equalised from the spot.

But the game was just beginning. It felt a full Clasico condensed just into the second half, with the first notable for little other than a Suarez strike which was saved and Casemiro scything down Messi.

Cristiano Ronaldo, on for Benzema, blew the game up. Hitting Barcelona on the break he teased the struggling Pique and then slammed the ball into the top corner to nudge Madrid ahead again.

The Portuguese celebrated wildly, ripping off his shirt, flexing his muscles and then imitated Messi’s celebration from the Santiago Bernabeu last season, holding it aloft to Camp Nou.

The referee booked him for his trouble and before long, had to send him off. Down went Ronaldo, diving in the area under a challenge from Samuel Umtiti, and out came the red card.

Barcelona attacked desperately, but were caught on the counter by another lightning break from Madrid. Vazquez fed Marco Asensio and he rocketed past Ter Stegen from the edge of the area. Brutal.

Ernesto Valverde’s side now face a tricky task to rescue the situation in the second leg on Wednesday at the Santiago Bernabeu.