There is probably no better feeling for club owners than when your 58 million euros signing, ten days after being brought to the club, scores a great goal in a big derby. That’s what Raphinha did, in last night’s clash between Barcelona and Real Madrid in Las Vegas. The Brazilian settled the pre-season El Clasico with a missile in the 27th minute and hinted that he could represent a capital reinforcement for Xavi Hernandez’s team – 1-0 (1-0).That goal came from a catastrophic error in the handling of the ball by Eder Militao, who instead of eliminating the danger far from his own goal, transferred the ball to the opposite side right at the feet of the Brazilian. Raphinha did not hesitate for a moment, followed by a shot from the second touch of the ball, from about twenty meters away, straight into the upper left corner of Courtouis’ goal. The shot was so precise that the huge and all-powerful Belgian was nowhere near clearing the ball.Militao made a cardinal mistake, but it was caused by Barcelona’s high pressing. As many as five players of the Catalan club found themselves behind the neck of four defenders of the Royal Club. Lucas Vasquez and Militao were in a big problem, they passed the ball to each other in the dangerous zone, and then the Brazilian made an unreasonable move. This was cruelly punished by his compatriot.We used the term “unfriendly” in the title of the article because the match, especially it’s first half, was full of numerous rough starts and clashes between the two sides on the pitch itself. The second part of the match was completely different, because it was interrupted by numerous changes on both sides, so there were no conditions to find the right rhythm.Again, Real Madrid had the opportunity to see how difficult life is without Karim Benzema, who Eden Hazard unsuccessfully tried to replace. The Belgian played in the spearhead position, together with Vinicius and Rodrygo as wingers, and the champion of Europe and Spain ended the match without a shot toward the opponent’s goal.##NAJAVA_MECA_6525448##On the other hand, Robert Lewandowski already showed what kind of reinforcement he will be. The Pole got a chance in the first 45 minutes and at the very start of the game, his excellent shot stopped Courtois, and a little later, at the last moment, another one of Lewa’s shots was blocked by the opponent’s defenders.During the first half, on several occasions, the situation was near the point of boiling. One of those moments was in the 43rd minute, when Vinicius Junior’s masterful slalom was stopped by Jordi Alba’s harsh slide. Before that, Busquets tried to knock down the Brazilian, didn’t get to him, but the experienced left back was there to ‘finish’ him. This was followed by a fierce reaction from Real’s players, and the two warring parties found themselves in a clinch in front of Barca’s penalty area. However, Real Madrid did not profit from those sporadic attacks.Tchouameni and Rudiger made their debut appearances in the Real Madrid shirt, with the German leaving a better impression. Carlo Ancelotti put him in the position of left back, where he did a good job. Several times at the beginning of the match, he went all the way to the end of his team’s plays and threatened from a distance, so it was more than clear that the Italian got a serious all-rounder in the back line.Real did not have a shot on goal, but they were the first to get to a massive chance, when Federico Valverde shook the post with a powerful shot from a distance in the 18th minute. Just two minutes later, a disastrous mistake was made by Eduardo Camavinga, who lost the ball in his penalty area, Pedri made a quick pass to Fati, and the latter shot just wide of the goal. That was the introduction to a more intense phase of the match, but also a series of mistakes by Real’s defense.The second half unfortunately did not have many points of contact with the first. Both coaches changed their entire teams, which greatly affected the quality and tempo of the game. At the beginning of the second part of the game, Asensio threatened, while on the other side, in the 72nd minute, Franck Kessie tried, but Courtois was in the right place. The brilliant Belgian also shone in the last moments of the game, stopping a one-on-one situation with Dembele.
