Football Friendlies: Nothing friendly as Barcelona beats Real Madrid in pre-season El Classico

Raphinha scored his second goal for Barcelona in his second appearance after being transferred earlier this month from Premier League club Leeds United for USD 60 million. The 25-year-old Brazillian forward scored the lone goal of the match for Barcelona at the 65000-seat home ground of NFL team Las Vegas Raiders.

Raphinha intercepted a pass from Real Madrid defender Eder Militao in the 27th minute. He took control of the ball with a single touch and fired a powerful left-foot strike past Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois into the top right corner of the net to make it 1-0 for Barcelona.

Real Madrid started the first half aggressively as Federico Valverde almost scored the opening goal 18 minutes into the game. However, he failed to convert on an explosive volley from a distance of 25 yards after taking control of the ball from Jordi Alba. Barcelona launched a counterattack just two minutes later when Pedro Gonzalez López took control of the ball from Eduardo Camavinga but failed to get past Courtois. 

Polish striker Robert Lewandowski who recently moved to Barcelona from Bayern Munich controlled the game's flow against the UEFA Champions League titleholders in the first half. Real Madrid worked hard in hopes hope of an equalizer. However, the absence of star striker Karim Benzema made it challenging to break past the defensive line of Barcelona.

Both sides failed to score any more goals, and the lone goal scored by Raphinha secured the victory for Barcelona. Brawl between players showed the intense rivalry between the clubs. It will all end up as a showcase of bigger battles in La Liga later on.

Barcelona will play New York Red Bulls, while Real Madrid will next play against Juventus on July 30.

Follow all of today's Football matches on our Live Match Centre