This was just one to whet your appetite. Barcelona and Real Madrid have drawn 1-1 in their Copa Del Rey semi-final first leg, with a second half goal from struggling Malcom giving the home side a draw. This was just the first of three meetings between Spain's biggest sides in the space of a month, with another Copa Del Rey tie and a La Liga clash set to take place in the coming weeks.
Both sides rested a couple of key personnel for the tie, with Lionel Messi starting on the bench for the hosts, while the likes of Courtois and Casemiero were left sitting on the pine for Los Blancos.
Real Madrid got off to a perfect start in the game, opening the scoring after just six minutes. Some clever play down the left flank from the in form Vinicius Jr allowed him to find Karim Benzema at the far post, who squared the ball to the on-rushing Lucas Vasquez for a simple finish.
It was not a game full of action from this point on, although both teams did squander a couple of golden opportunities. Vinicius made an absolute mess of this 3-on-1 counter attack, going for glory himself instead of laying the simple assist on for Toni Kroos and doubling his side's advantage early on.
Deputy goalkeeper Keylor Navas also pulled off this smart save from Luis Suarez to maintain his side's slender advantage going into half time.
Barcelona entered the second period facing the prospect of yet another Copa Del Rey first leg defeat, but the floundering Malcom would draw his side level just before the hour mark. While Suarez's original effort was miraculously cleared off the line by Sergio Ramos, the winger was on hand to smartly finish off the rebound.
It has not been the best of campaigns for the Brazilian, who was strongly linked with a move away from the Camp Nou last month. He will be hoping to kickstart his Barcelona career with this El Clasico goal, however.
Messi was introduced for the final 25 minutes, but failed to have much of an impact on the game. The sides would ultimately finish level, setting up a finely poised second leg in the Santiago Bernabeu on February 27th.
