Real Madrid beat Barça for the first time (with refereeing controversy)

BarcelonaIn the fifth Barça-Madrid match of the season and the nineteenth of all time, the Whites beat the Blaugranas for the first time (1-3), and they did so with controversy. The Whites won at Montjuïc in front of 35,812 spectators who defied the bad weather to support the team and, this time, were unable to celebrate a rout as they have done so many times before. Barça didn't play well against a very defensive and more relaxed Real Madrid than usual, but referee Olatz Rivera's performance influenced the scoreline. Jana Fernández's 2-1, which was ruled out for a non-existent offside (there is no VAR in the F League), ended up making it 2-1. The Whites closed the scoring with a late goal that, despite the referee initially not having awarded it, ended up being validated by the linesman. This was well-referenced.

It was a very strange match. Far from the expected script, considering how the two teams' previous clashes had gone. Barça had the first chance, but Madrid also threatened early on. Barça hadn't been in the game for a minute before Graham Hansen, with a soft header at the far post, carved out the first chance of the match. The cross came from Sydney Schertenleib, the 18-year-old Swiss sensation whom Pere Romeu has rewarded with a starting spot. Immediately after, it was Real Madrid who found the back of Barça's very advanced defense. However, Feller was left with no time left when she was alone against Cata Coll.

Barça wasted no time in responding with a series of chances. Graham Hansen, with a powerful cross; Alexia, with a poor shot in the heart of the box, and Schertenleib, with a shot from the edge of the box that deflected between Misa and the crossbar, put fear in their opponent's minds. It seemed like it was only a matter of time before the home side's first goal fell like ripe fruit, but instead, things started to go wrong. Little did the large crowd in the stadium expect it, and before the half-hour mark, they were already making waves. The celebration of the first goal would have to wait. Much longer than usual. This time, Montjuïc wouldn't be a party.

Madrid managed to prevent Barça's dominance of possession from translating into more clear-cut chances, and the match was leveled. Schertenleib appealed for a penalty for Antonia's slight grip, but referee Olatz Rivera deemed it insufficient to award it. Shortly after, the Swiss gem would suffer a youthful sin, and a loss of his own on the edge of the box, with almost the entire team focused on attacking, meant that Alexia had to commit a foul to stop the counterattack, which earned her a yellow card. This action preceded Barça's worst minutes.

Real Madrid takes the lead.

Graham Hansen suffered a major scare when she injured herself while controlling the ball. Madrid took advantage of the stalemate, with the Blaugrana team down to ten players while the Norwegian was being treated, to take the lead with an isolated play. Feller's cross and Redondo, who was barely monitored by Paredes, headed it into the back of the net. The Blaugranas were determined to react, and Graham Hansen, now fit, had the clearest chance of the entire first half. Aitana set up Alexia for the captain to flick a pass to the far post, but the Norwegian, with everything in her favor, failed to land the ball properly.

A comeback was needed in the second half, and to achieve this, they needed to change things and, above all, capitalize on their play on the wings. To achieve this, Romeu shook things up, and Salma and Jana came onto the pitch in the second half. With the strong wind conditioning the game (rain would follow later), the closest to equalizing was, once again, Graham Hansen. Ewa Pajor, practically unseen until then, had a shot from the edge of the box, but she chose to set up the Norwegian, who shot hard but centered, and Misa was able to deflect her shot.

Time ticked by, and Barça kept trying, but couldn't get ahead. Their play wasn't working. After so much persistence, Graham Hansen managed to score with a header at the far post after a good cross from Mapi León. There were twenty minutes left, and although it seemed the game would start to slow down, it was quite the opposite. The Blaugrana had the ball, but Madrid knew how to damage the counterattack driven by Caicedo. The game broke up, almost in parallel with the start of a heavy downpour on Montjuïc, with hail included.

Barça took the lead with a goal from Jana, but the move was ruled out for a non-existent offside call by Graham Hansen, which was heavily contested by the Blaugrana. With five minutes remaining, the game was still tied until Caicedo, the Whites' best attacking player, set up Weir in the heart of the box to put the Whites back in front. Weir herself sealed the scoring in the final minute in a poor performance by Barça, but one heavily influenced by the referee's performance.