Barcelona snatched a difficult victory Thursday, from its host Real Madrid, in the first leg of the King's Cup semi-finals, with a goal without a response, to take a big step towards reaching the final confrontation of the competition.

And at the “Santiago Bernabeu” stadium in the Spanish capital, Barcelona surprised its host, Real Madrid, and snatched an unexpected victory, thanks to a goal that came through friendly fire, when Brazilian defender Eder Militao mistakenly turned the ball into his team’s goal.

The goal came in the 26th minute, after a distinguished individual effort from the Ivorian midfielder, Frank Kessie, who kicked off the ball and hit it towards Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, before hitting Militao and continuing its way into the net.

The goal!#ElClásico pic.twitter.com/xVCXfdL9UJ

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) March 2, 2023

Real Madrid players objected to the goal on the pretext that Casey was in an offside position, but the referee, after returning to the "VAR" technique, awarded the goal.

Barcelona, ​​who played the match without a number of its influential stars such as Robert Lewandowski, Pedri and Osman Dembele due to injury, suffices to draw with any result in the return match that will be held at its “Spotify Camp Nou” stadium on April 5, in order to book a ticket to qualify for the final round.

With this victory, Barcelona continued its superiority over Real Madrid for the second consecutive match, after it had previously defeated the royal team 3-1 last January in the Spanish Super Cup final, which took place in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.

This was the third match between the two teams in various competitions during the current season, after Real had previously defeated Barcelona 3-1 at the “Santiago Bernabeu” stadium, in the face of the first two teams in the Spanish League last October.

👊 An important victory in Madrid, and the decision after a month in Barcelona pic.twitter.com/oxX7Qmgwi5

- FC Barcelona (@fcbarcelona_ara) March 2, 2023

The date is also scheduled to be renewed between the two teams on March 19, in Barcelona, ​​​​during the second confrontation between the two teams in the League Championship.

It is noteworthy that the first match in the first leg of the King's Cup semi-finals ended with Osasuna winning 1-0 against its neighbor, Athletic Bilbao.