Barcelona handed win against Real Madrid in an intense Copa del Rey semi-final first leg on Thursday with centre back Eder Militao scoring an own goal.
Barcelona were without top scorer, Robert Lewandowski, Pedri and pacey winger Ousmane Dembele due to injury.
After their shock elimination from the Europa League by in-form Manchester United last week and a first ever loss against Almeria.
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Militao put Barcelona ahead with 26 minutes into the game after defelecting a shot into his own goal. This puts the catalans ahead going into the second leg on April 5 at Camp Nou.
Sergio Busquets set a new record overtaking former Real Madrid and Barcelona Sergio Ramos and Lionel Messi to make it his 46th appearance at the el clasico.
Busquets told TVE, “We knew how to compete, the team did a great job physically, we were very solid, we blocked them through the middle.
“Even though they had the ball and possession, they didn’t have clear chances and we had the goal, a small advantage to take for the second leg.”
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French striker Karim Benzema got on the scoresheet but the goal was disallowed for an obvious offside.
The atmosphere inside the stadium became tensed, when Vinicius Junior was booked midway through the first half for pulling Frenkie de Jong to the ground.
Vinicius didn’t hide his anger as he raced to the referee to protest his yellow but was lucky not to have gotten booked the second time. Afterwards, Militao handed Barcelona the lead.
Thibaut Courtois saved Franck Kessie’s low drive but the ball rebounded off Militao, into his own net, with Nacho trying to dig the ball out.
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