(Football news) Barcelona drew first blood in the first leg as they won against Real Madrid courtesy of a first-half own goal from Eder Militao in 1-0 win at the Santiago Bernabeu on Thursday night. Xavi Hernandez called Madrid favourites ahead of the tie and, despite the Catalan giants winning the Spanish Super Cup Clasico 3-1 in Saudi Arabia on Jan. 15 but in all fairness the LaLiga leaders came into the match without the likes of Pedri, Ousmane Dembele and Robert Lewandowski.

Even without three best players Barca took the lead before the half-hour when Ferran Torres capitalised on a poorly played back pass by Camavinga as he played it to Franck Kessie, who had his shot blocked by Thibaut Courtois but only for Eder Militao to redirect the ball into his own net. The first half ended with Vinicius Junior getting a yellow card after a tussle with Frenkie de Jong as he held him down in a headlock after fighting for the ball.

Kessie should have made it 2-0 for Barca in the 72nd minute, but his shot was inexplicably blocked off target by substitute Ansu Fati. Barcelona captain Busquets played in his 46th Clasico as he surpassed former teammate Lionel Messi and Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos for most appearances in El Clasico history. Barcelona was coming off a 1-0 loss at Almería in the La Liga which was the first time Barca failed to score since October. 

Barca were eliminated by Manchester United in the Europa League playoffs and were clearly not favourites to win this match. Madrid on the other hand were without David Alaba and left-back Ferland Mendy because of injuries. Rodrygo was back from injury but he was on the bench, with Vinícius and Karim Benzema in the starting lineup. The two sides are going to meet again on March 19 in LaLiga which becomes a potential title decider where Barcelona are currently seven points ahead of second-placed Madrid, 

The decisive Copa del Rey second leg will be played at the Camp Nou on April 5 as the winner will play either Osasuna or Athletic Bilbao. In the other semifinal Osasuna stunned the host Athletic Club as they lost 1-0 on Wednesday as the final is set for May 6 in Seville. Barcelona have now become the favourites to win this competition after their narrow win over Madrid, having won the most Copa titles with 31 which is eight more than Athletic and Real Madrid are next with 19, but haven’t won it since 2014.

“I am happy to have played more Clasicos than anyone else,” Busquets said. “As a player these are the games you love. I am lucky to have been at the best club in the world for many years and I am still enjoying it.

“It was an important win, but we still have the second leg to go, so we are not getting ahead of ourselves yet,” Busquets said. “We came into the game on the back of two defeats, so this strengthens the group. We had players out, but the team competed well, we were solid, got the goal. And even without having control of the ball as we would have liked, we didn’t suffer that much.”

“You can see how equal these games are, the two teams compete really well,” Busquets said. “We have won the last two (Clasico wins) now and, with the lead from tonight, maybe we have a slight advantage in the tie, but not much.”

“We dominated the game,” Courtois said. “They were quite defensive. We were unlucky to concede the goal. It was hard for us to get shots on goal, and to create chances. We played a good game, in control, but we didn’t find the chance. They defended well, they conceded a few goals. We didn’t get the final ball. It won’t change or affect the return leg, or the league.”

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