Barcelona hold the upper hand in their Copa del Rey quarter-final with Real Madrid after Eric Abidal secured them a 2-1 victory at Santiago Bernabeu.
Real left with it all to do following home defeat to Clasico rivals
Barcelona hold the upper hand in their Copa del Rey quarter-final with Real Madrid after Eric Abidal secured them a 2-1 victory at Santiago Bernabeu.
Cristiano Ronaldo silenced the boo-boys in the best possible manner by firing Real in front, but Barca hit back through Carles Puyol and Abidal to ensure that they sit in pole position heading into the return date at Camp Nou.
El Clasico encounters often produce fireworks, and this game was no different.
It took just 11 minutes for Ronaldo to light the touch paper, with the Portuguese winger sent scampering into wide open space by Karim Benzema.
He raced through on goal and, after slipping past Gerard Pique, drilled low and hard under Jose Pinto.
Andres Iniesta fired into the side-netting as Barca attempted to respond immediately, while Alexis Sanchez saw a looping header cannon off the woodwork.
With Real opting to adopt a counter-attack approach, Barca continued to press and Lionel Messi and Iniesta both went close to levelling before the interval.
A goal was coming for the visitors and they restored parity four minutes into the second half.
Xavi swung over a corner from the left and Barca skipper Puyol diverted a bullet of a diving header past a stranded Iker Casillas.
Real were struggling to create opportunities of their own and were relieved to see a shot from Iniesta deflect off Sergio Ramos and onto the angle of post and bar.
Barca kept knocking on the door, though, and it finally swung open for them 13 minutes from time.
Messi was the man to pick the lock, with his delicate pass into Abidal allowing the French full-back to ghost in behind the Real back four and prod past Casillas.
