MIAMI: Gerard Pique delivered Barcelona's match winner over Real Madrid on Saturday as El Clasico Miami lived up to the hype.
The Spanish international steered in a Neymar free-kick in the 50th minute to seal a 3-2 win for the Catalan giants in front of 66,014 at the Hard Rock Stadium.
Lionel Messi, who put in a superb 64-minute performance, opened the scoring after just three minutes and when Ivan Rakitic doubled the lead soon after, the writing appeared to be on the wall for a sluggish Real Madrid side.
Yet Zinedine Zidane’s side quickly woke from their slumber and by the end of the first half, goals from Mateo Kovacic and Marco Asensio had pulled them level.
What followed was entertaining, often breathless friendly fare before Pique struck that decisive goal.
This was nothing more than a pre-season match and obviously was not going to affect the overall record between these two old rivals, which stands at 93 wins for Real, 91 for Barcelona.
Their last meeting was quite incredible. Messi’s last gasp winner, his 500th for the club — it was quite a night.
Madrid had the last laugh in May, winning La Liga and the Champions League, but actually arrived in Miami off the back of two exhibition defeats — a penalty shootout defeat to Manchester United before City also did a number on them in Los Angeles, running out 4-2 winners.
Barca, meanwhile, had beaten United and Juventus in International Champions Cup friendly competition, but the ongoing uncertainty surrounding Neymar and the interest from Paris Saint-Germain has cast a serious cloud over their two-week stay in North America.
The Brazilian started for Ernesto Valverde’s side and while the rest of his teammates head home he will fly to China to perform commercial obligations on behalf of the club.
To their credit, and much to the obvious delight of the organizers, both teams did not hold back with their starting lineups.
Messi and Luis Suarez started in attack while Bale, Modric and Karim Benzema were all unleashed by Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane.
Neymar’s first involvement was to fall to the ground and clutch his ankle.
For a moment it looked like his evening would be over before it began, though he was back on the pitch in time to see Messi open the scoring with just three minutes on the clock.
The Argentine ace waltzed into the box and lifted a shot past Keylor Navas via a deflection off Raphael Varane.
And it was not long before the Costa Rican international was picking the ball out of the back of the net once again.
On six minutes, Neymar, gradually moving more freely, squared the ball and it found Rakitic, whose finish was clinically struck in the seventh minute.
What a start for Barcelona. Real had barely escaped their own half and were lucky not to fall further behind on 13 minutes when Suarez fired over from close range.
Yet with Madrid’s first effort on goal, Zidane's side pulled one back.
Croatian Kovacic evaded a challenge just outside the box before arrowing the ball past the outstretched hand of Jasper Cillessen.
Suddenly, the game was on. Benzema, who barely had a sniff, dragged just wide on 19 minutes with Cillessen beaten.
Navas remained the busier keeper, however, and was on hand to repel Messi once again on 31 minutes.
It was a key save because on 36 minutes, Asensio levelled for Madrid.
Los Blancos were counter-attacking dangerously and it was left to Modric who squared for the Spaniard who took full advantage of Jordi Alba missing the ball to rifle past a horribly exposed Cillessen.
Man City beats Tottenham
3-0 in ICC friendly
Manchester City posted a convincing 3-0 win over English Premiership rivals Tottenham on Saturday in an International Champions Cup friendly in Nashville, Tennessee.
John Stones, Raheem Sterling and Brahim Diaz scored for Manchester City, who were coming off a 4-1 win over Spain and European champions Real Madrid in the exhibition tournament in North America.
Jones opened the scoring at Nissan Stadium, home of the NFL’s Tennessee Titans, with a glancing header in the 10th minute.
City had plenty of chances to increase their lead before Sterling made it 2-0 in the 72nd minute, and Diaz came off the bench to complete the scoring in injury time.
Tottenham had the first real chance in the third minute, but Dele Alli's attempt was smothered by goalkeeper Ederson.
From there Manchester City inexorably took control.
They were rewarded in the 10th, when Kevin De Bruyne's free kick from the right found Stones, who stooped to head the ball past Spurs keeper Hugo Lloris.
Spurs had a chance to equalize late in the first half when Harry Kane appeared to have a clean look at goal against a hard-charging Ederson, but he fired over the crossbar.
Pique lifts Barcelona as El Clasico lives up to hype
Pique lifts Barcelona as El Clasico lives up to hype
Guardiola hails Man City’s ‘massive’ win over Newcastle
- Guardiola’s second-placed side closed the gap on leaders Arsenal to just two points with their tense victory at the Etihad Stadium
MANCHESTER, United Kingdom: Pep Guardiola labelled Manchester City’s 2-1 win over Newcastle on Saturday as a “massive” moment in the Premier League title race.
Guardiola’s second-placed side closed the gap on leaders Arsenal to just two points with their tense victory at the Etihad Stadium.
Nico O’Reilly put City ahead in the first half and restored the lead before half-time after Lewis Hall had equalized.
City weren’t at their best in the second half, but they held on to pile pressure on spluttering Arsenal, who travel to Tottenham for the north London derby on Sunday.
Guardiola knew it was essential to make Arsenal sweat.
“Massive. Newcastle is an incredible team, awesome in physicality and speed they have up front. Physicality in the middle. Really tough but the team was unbelievable,” he said.
“It’s coming in best part of the season. Every single game will be similar to today.”
After finishing without a trophy last season, City are back in the hunt for the seventh English title of Guardiola’s reign.
They will have a game in hand on Arsenal after this weekend and are guaranteed to win the title if they win their last 11 league matches.
Guardiola has embarked on an expensive overhaul of City’s squad in the last 12 months, shedding aging stars like Kevin De Bruyne, Ederson and Kyle Walker and bringing in the likes of Marc Guehi, Antoine Semenyo and Rayan Cherki.
The Spaniard is well aware that his new generation largely lacks the experience of winning under the pressure of a title race, which made their gritty success against Newcastle even more meaningful.
“70 percent of the players have never been in that situation, and I don’t play. So we have to live it, they know that every game will be like this,” he said.
“Especially at home, with five home games left. Today was the best crowd of the year, it was unbelievable with our people, really proud to be manager of these incredible people and fans.
“Of course in terms of points it’s important, but we have to improve to have chance to compete until the end. Now we deserve three more days off. Then another battle in Leeds.”
Guardiola singled out O’Reilly for praise after the young England midfielder’s pair of clinical finishes showed he won’t be affected by the strain of chasing Arsenal.
“Nico give us in the middle that physicality that we need. He now plays in his position,” he said.
“He has always played that, he is so complete and so young. I am really pleased the academy produced these incredible players, Nico, Phil (Foden), Rico (Lewis).”
