French youngster Raphael Varane headed in a late goal as Real Madrid salvaged a 1-1 draw against bitter rivals Barcelona in their Spanish Cup semifinal first-leg clash on Wednesday.

Cesc Fabregas had given Barcelona the lead at the Santiago Bernabeu in a game his side looked to be running away with until the leveler.

Varane was Madrid's star all evening, clearing off the line in the first half and making countless other defensive interventions in an entertaining encounter.

With the second leg almost a month away, Madrid, who trail Barcelona by 15 points in the league, will be relieved to avoid defeat and will now look to the Champions League last 16 first leg against Manchester United in the same stadium in less than two weeks.

Barcelona keeper Jose Manuel Pinto was immediately called into action to block a Cristiano Ronaldo free kick after Gerard Pique saw a yellow card on 40 seconds for tripping the Portuguese star on the edge of the area.

Pinto had to be alert again on nine minutes to tip over a Michael Essien cross and Madrid were looking the more direct and dangerous of the two teams in the opening minutes.

The pace was fast and furious and Ronaldo just failed to connect with a Karim Benzema cross in front of goal and then Xavi curled a free kick onto the crossbar at the other end.

The best chance of the first half fell to Barcelona on 22 minutes when Fabregas anticipated a poor back pass from Ricardo Carvalho and teed up Xavi whose shot was blocked on the line by Varane.

At the start of the second period Benzema exchanged passes with Ronaldo before shooting high, but it wasn't long before Barcelona went ahead.

A Jose Callejon clearance fell to Lionel Messi whose quick thinking pass to Fabregas left the former Arsenal captain with an easy finish on 50 minutes.

From that point Madrid lost their impetus and Varane had to make a fantastic last-gasp intervention to stop Fabregas from adding another.

Barcelona were playing a more measured passing game after the goal and dominating possession.

Pique was quicker than Ronaldo to a cross when Madrid did break on the counterattack on 67 minutes.

Fabregas then released Pedro Rodriguez who should have doubled the lead on his 200th appearance for Barcelona, but he badly miscued his shot from close range.

Just when it looked like Barcelona would leave with victory, Varane popped up to head home a Mesut Ozil cross with nine minutes to go.

Diego Lopez had to save well from Jordi Alba in the closing minutes but a draw was a fair result in the end with all to play for in the Nou Camp on February 27.

AFP - Global Times