Soccer: Real Madrid survives Barcelona

La Liga has started and the most heated rivalry in sports has seen its first version of this year’s league.    Barcelona beat Real Madrid 3-2 at home totally dominating their rival but letting them go out alive.  This is why its a classic, even when one team dominates the other as Barcelona did yesterday, the other manages to do something to keep everybody interested in the comeback game.    3-2 at home is no guarantee for victory.  Messi and Ronaldo both scored for their respective teams, a rare these days.  Di Maria restored the game in the final minutes when Valdez, Barcelona’s goalkeeper decided he was good enough to fool the Madrid player, only to be outsmarted and give new life to the team from the capital.   Barcelona didn’t seem to miss Pep Guardiola as they played their typical game.  Messi and the gang gave Madrid everything they could handle.   At one moment we thought the game would finish 4-1 when suddenly things turned the other way around.  It was a loss for Madrid but sort of a moral victory for the club as they leave this game with a great chance to close the show at home next week.   Our prediction: Another Classic.