Franck Kessie’s injury-time winner forBarcelonaagainstReal Madridin El Clasico may well have won theLa Ligatitle for Xavi’s side.
Kessie scored in the 92nd minute at Camp Nou to give his side a 2-1 victory on Sunday night. It moved them 12 points clear of their rivals with just 12 matches remaining.
Real had taken an early lead when Vinicius Jr’s cross was headed into his own net by Ronald Araujo after just nine minutes.
But the home side were level just before half time.
Raphinha saw his shot blocked before Sergi Roberto fired home to equalise.
The second half was a feisty one with seven yellow cards being dished out during the 90 minutes.
And just as it looked as though both sides would have to settle for a point, Kessie popped up with an injury-time winner.
Title over?
Perhaps so but, first, we want to just touch on the feisty nature of the match.
As mentioned, there were seven yellow cards shown throughout the match with plenty of niggles and clashes between both sets of players.
One of those players who, somehow, didn’t get a yellow card was Barcelona’s Gavi.
The 18-year-old certainly isn’t afraid to put himself about and he certainly did that on Sunday.
He pushed Dani Carvajal in one incident, but we want to focus on his off-the-ball clash with Dani Ceballos.
Ceballos tangled with Robert Lewandowski – something that Gavi spotted.
In an act of revenge, Gavi barged into Ceballos with the ball nowhere near the pair of them – sending the Real midfielder flying.
VIDEO: Gavi’s off-the-ball clash with Ceballos
Gavi 😳 #FCBRMA #ElClasico pic.twitter.com/oiqgEI4xFL
— The Premier League Club (@TPLCSports) March 19, 2023
avi is something else, isn’t he?
Xavi: The title isn’t over
After the match, Xavi admitted that it was a huge win but that the title isn’t decided just yet.
“The league is not decided but it’s a huge win of course,” the Barca boss insisted.
“I think we deserved the win and we were better than Real Madrid, we created more opportunities.”
And those thoughts were echoed by goalscorer Roberto.
“You can never say [the title] is over but we have now gone 12 points clear so it’s difficult for them,” he said.
“It’s down to us and that’s the most important thing. I’m just glad to have helped the team with a goal. It was epic at the end and I’m pleased for Franck to get the goal.
“The game swung when we thought Asensio had scored, it was ruled offside and we scored. It feels even better when you win with a late goal and it’s fantastic to do so in front of our supporters.”