{"id":27377,"date":"2017-07-31T15:30:52","date_gmt":"2017-07-31T14:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.byfarthegreatestteam.com\/?p=27377"},"modified":"2017-07-31T08:37:45","modified_gmt":"2017-07-31T07:37:45","slug":"football-paradise-el-clasico-miami","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.byfarthegreatestteam.com\/posts\/football-paradise-el-clasico-miami\/","title":{"rendered":"Football in Paradise: El Cl\u00e1sico Miami"},"content":{"rendered":"

A night of glorious sporting spectacle. The epitome of footballing rivalry, packaged and shipped to a Floridian paradise. El Cl\u00e1sico Miami.<\/p>\n

It was an intriguing spectacle unlike no other Cl\u00e1sico <\/em>ever played. In front of a 65,000 bumper crowd, two of Europe\u2019s elite squads kicked off. I\u2019m decked in Bar\u00e7a gear but the two fan groups are quite intermingled throughout the stadium. It\u2019s a unique atmosphere at Florida\u2019s biggest ever \u201csoccer\u201d match. As the teams begin to parry each other in the midfield like two world-class fencers, a miracle only possible at El Cl\u00e1sico occurs.<\/p>\n

I can barely see it on the opposite end of the pitch. Lionel Messi escapes a lunging Sergio Ramos, but his attempted pass is deflected. It doesn\u2019t matter, not with Sergio Busquets in midfield. The Spaniard quickly readjusts the play to feed Messi a back-line-splitting through ball. But the Argentinean wasn\u2019t quite through on goal. Luka Modri\u0107 and Rapha\u00ebl Varane recover to block Messi\u2019s dribbling\u2026or not.<\/p>\n

A quick turn, deflected shot, and the Barcelona fans going insane. I couldn\u2019t believe my eyes. Three minutes hadn\u2019t passed since kickoff before I\u2019d witnessed one of the game\u2019s legendary players score a sublime goal.<\/p>\n

Three more minutes pass before Neymar is on the ball, away on the left wing. He cuts the ball back across the top of the box to Luis Su\u00e1rez, but he steps over the ball. Midfielder Ivan Rakiti\u0107 had made his way up and smacked the cross with his right, sending it low and across goal, into the bottom corner. I was dumbfounded, even confused. The clock was 6:15 when the Bar\u00e7a players jogged in celebration towards the corner flag, high-fiving and hugging each other as if their triumph over Real Madrid was anything but a friendly. But it\u2019s Real; they came back.<\/p>\n

In only the fourteenth minute, rotational player Mateo Kova\u010di\u0107 played a one-two with Casemiro before embarking on a run, leaving Gerard Piqu\u00e9 on the grass before sniping a shot into the bulging net. I watched the ball rolling in the goal only yards in front of me, bitter that the opposition fans around me had their chance to cheer. A blistering counterattack by Real with only ten minutes left in the half saw Marco Asensio slot in the equalizer after being left one-on-one with Jasper Cillessen.<\/p>\n

The final, decisive goal was scored by Piqu\u00e9 in the 50th<\/sup> minute and celebration ensued in front of us. Both teams threatened throughout the rest of the half but nothing came of the chances. The magic never quite though, and by the time the final whistle blew both sets of fans were still in high spirits. It was a memorable experience to see Spain\u2019s top two teams tussle it out on my side of the big pond \u2013 one that I will cherish for the rest of my life.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A night of glorious sporting spectacle. The epitome of footballing rivalry, packaged and shipped to a Floridian paradise. El Cl\u00e1sico Miami. It was an intriguing spectacle unlike no other Cl\u00e1sico ever played. In front of a 65,000 bumper crowd, two of Europe\u2019s elite squads kicked off. I\u2019m decked in Bar\u00e7a gear but the two fan […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":158,"featured_media":23376,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[77,928,94],"tags":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nFootball in Paradise: El Cl\u00e1sico Miami<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.byfarthegreatestteam.com\/posts\/football-paradise-el-clasico-miami\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Football in Paradise: El Cl\u00e1sico Miami\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A night of glorious sporting spectacle. 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