Miami: Gerard Pique delivered Barcelona’s match winner over Real Madrid as El Clasico Miami lived up to the hype, Saturday.
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.
Neymar 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.
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 wasn’t long before Navas 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.
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, Zinedine Zidane’s side pulled one back. Croatian Mateo Kovacic evaded a challenge just outside the box before arrowing the ball past the outstretched hand of Jasper Cillessen.
Navas at the other end remained the busier keeper, however, and was on hand to repel Messi once again on 31 minutes. It was a key save because Asensio leveled for Madrid in the 36th minute.
Both teams retained their star men after the restart and it was Neymar whose pinpoint free-kick was steered home by Pique in the 50th.
While the clash of the Spanish rivals was supposedly a friendly, Rakitic was lucky to escape a red card just after the hour mark when he appeared to push referee Jair Marrufo.
Neymar departed on 72 minutes in what could have been his final performance in Barcelona colours as the ongoing uncertainty surrounding Neymar and Paris St Germain’s reported readiness to make a 222 million-euro ($260.89 million) move for the Brazilian has cast a serious cloud over their two-week stay in North America.
