Barça 12 points clear in title race after Kessié’s late winner against Real Madrid

After 26 matches and 91 minutes of nerves and tension, a swipe of Franck Kessié’s boot virtually delivered the league for Barcelona. Barcelona had been hit by what appeared to be a late Marco Asensio winner that would have reopened the title race only to witness it get ruled out by VAR and the tightest of offsides. Then they had resisted, and now they were virtually champions. One last run, a Robert Lewandowski backheel and a delivery from Alejandro Balde left Kessié there to finish the move the match and probably the season.

As the ball hit the net, it gave Barcelona a 2-1 win in the clásico and took them 12 points clear at the top of the table with 12 games to go. They had suffered, they had been exposed, and they had felt the tension grow until the very end, but they had held on to eventually clinch a vital victory, this place erupting at the end of an enjoyable encounter, one that felt like a different world to the last time these two great rivals had met, shouts of celebration echoing around the passageways of this enormous stadium.