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ARLINGTON — FIFA may be taking note now. Barcelona’s 3-0 win Saturday over Real Madrid at AT&T Stadium was the highest-attended El Clasico in the U.S. with 82,026 fans.
The crowd also represented the highest-attended club soccer match in the history of the Cowboys’ home.
AT&T Stadium is in the running to host the 2026 World Cup Final, and the huge crowd that turned out Saturday may well have been an eye-opener for FIFA.
In 2017, Real Madrid and Barcelona met at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami with a crowd of 66,014. Last year they met at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas with 61,299 fans in attendance.
The 2014 friendly between the national teams of Mexico and Ecuador holds the record for a soccer game at the house that Jerry Jones built, with 84,878 fans.
Barcelona’s win attracted local fans and people from faraway countries.
“We came from Honduras just to watch the game,” said Josué Baylón, who, along with his wife, three children, and mother-in-law, traveled from Honduras to watch El Clásico at AT&T Stadium.
Josué and his wife are fans of Real Madrid, while two of his sons (9 and 11) are Barcelona followers.
“At the end of the day, my authority as a father prevails,” Baylón said with a laugh.
The crowd at AT&T was evenly represented between Real Madrid and Barcelona fans.
The cries of “Madrid! Madrid!” in the stands were immediately silenced by those of “Barca! Barca!” in an intense duel between the teams’ fans.
Barcelona — the reigning Spanish League champion — opened the scoring at the 15-minute with a three-touch set piece that culminated with Ousmane Dembélé’s shooting inside the box to beat Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.
Dembélé’s goal could have been one of his last with Barcelona since information has spread that PSG is close to signing the French striker.
“I would like Dembélé to stay with us, he is a key player. He contributes a lot on and off the pitch,” Barcelona captain Sergi Roberto said.
Real Madrid had the opportunity to tie the score in the 20th minute when referee Allen Chapman called a penalty in favor of the Merengue team. Vinicius took the penalty kick but crashed the ball into the crossbar.
In the 31st minute, Barcelona keeper Marc-André ter Stegen made a great save on a Rodrygo Silva free kick that was looking for the left corner of the goal.
Seven minutes later, Vinicius hit the crossbar again with a strong shot inside the box.
Dembélé was close to scoring his second goal when, in a counterattack, he found himself face to face with the Real Madrid goalkeeper, who made a great save at the 40-minute mark.
An outside-the-box shot by Fermin López at the 85th-minute mark sealed the win for Barcelona, and Ferran Torres scored the third goal for the Blaugranas in stoppage time.
“We are in a period to try to get the machine ready,” said Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti.
“We played against a powerful opponent with a lot of quality players. We have to keep working to be in our best shape when the season starts”.
On Twitter: @abrahamrussek
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