Eva Payor scored twice in her first start in more than a month as Barcelona demanded Classical revenge real Madrid ends on Saturday winners with a score of 4-0 in a fierce battle at the Olympic Stadium and secured the lead at the top League F up to seven points.
Substitutes Sydney Shertenleib And Aitana Bonmati In the end, Payor's brace in the first half made the score even brighter, but the result does not paint the full picture of what has at times been a torrid affair between the two rivals. Madrid will regret missed opportunities, especially Caroline Weirmissed a penalty when the score was 2-0 in the second half, a moment that really livened up the game and warmed up the atmosphere among the 36,276 fans in the stadium.
Ultimately, it was Payor's predatory instinct that decided the match in Barca's favor. Poland the striker hit the ball into the net four times in 30 minutes – once he was sent off due to a minor offside; another for a controversial handball – after Alexia Putellas was rejected by the woodwork after just 30 seconds.
At the other end, Madrid could have easily scored their two goals. Weir missed the goal due to offside. Naomi Feller get into the post Linda Caicedo he was refused by the excellent Barça goalkeeper Kata Call And Irene Paredes knocked Weir's effort off the line.
Two weeks ago it was Barça who squandered these chances, suffering a rare defeat in Royal Society. With Payor missing through injury, they lost 1-0 in the Basque Country as they failed to score in a Ligue F match for the first time since January 2020.
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Perhaps things would have been different if Payor had been in good shape then. In early October, she injured her knee. It was initially feared she would miss several months, but she returned as a substitute last weekend and was ready to start and suffer for Madrid on Saturday.
Her brace took her to 10 goals this season in all competitions and demonstrated why she is so important to Barca's team in the final third.
“This is a special game,” Payor said. “Not only in Spainbut in the world, and of course I feel it [rivalry] and this is a special game. It's nice to play against Real Madrid and I'm very happy to win the game.”
Her brace also helped her side make amends for their surprise defeat in this match last season.
When the two teams met at the Stadio Olimpico in March, Madrid pulled out a surprise 3-1 win, ending a run of 18 consecutive matches. Classical defeats. This was the biggest sign that the gap between the two sides was finally starting to slowly close.
This game dominated the build-up to this one. Barca defender Esme Bragtswho left with an injury in the second half, spoke of wanting “revenge” for that defeat, while Paredes said they were desperate to take advantage of this “opportunity” to beat Madrid after they were “suffered a serious injury” in March.
A 4-0 win would help ease those wounds and re-establish Barca's dominance in Spain, but it would be wrong to suggest it was all one-way traffic.
There was a period in the second half, when Madrid were awarded a penalty in the 81st minute, when the rivalry felt stronger than ever. After Call dropped the ball and appeared to make a cut Athena del CastilloMadrid coach Pau Quesada challenged the decision not to award the penalty – each team receives two penalties per game under Football Video Support (FVS) used in Liga F – and after a lengthy review the penalty was awarded.
After Payor's first-half goals were disallowed, the decision created a sense of injustice among Barça players and fans. Searing whistles accompanied players colliding and tearing apart in the box before Weir stepped in from 12 yards. She looked sharp but couldn't beat Call, who dived to her left to take the goal kick. Scotland International, who won the match last time.
The cheers that accompanied the save were perhaps louder than those that accompanied any of the four goals. “If you're not jumping up and down, you're a Madrid fan,” echoed throughout the stadium.
“It wasn't a penalty for me,” Call told reporters. “There was a lot of anger in that save. I was desperate for a goal.”
She still had time to make another nice stop, this time from Athena, but it meant the end of Madrid's chances. Schertenleib and Bonmati scored 11 minutes into stoppage time (mostly due to a delayed penalty) to give Barca a handsome win, but they knew they were in the game.
“We were almost there at the end of the day,” Madrid goalkeeper. Misa Rodriguez said. “We didn't take advantage of the chances we had. That's the difference between one team and another today.” Classical matches are decided on the basis of small details.”
