Raphael Varane rescued a draw for Real Madrid as the first leg of the El Clasico Copa Del Rey semifinal against Barcelona ended 1-1.
In a game in which neither Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi shone as brightly as expected, Cesc Fabregas gave Barca the lead early in the second half at the Bernabeu, before Real's big central defender struck late on to keep the tie interesting.
The first half began like the last game between the two sides, with Real Madrid starting like a house on fire.
Ronaldo forced a brilliant save off goalkeeper Jose Pinto off a wicked freekick, after the Portuguese himself had earned the setpiece following a searing run, which saw Gerard Pique earn himself an early booking.
Real were looking to take the game to Barca, trying to get that early goal and turn the pressure back on Tito Vilanova's side.
Michael Essien came close, after seeing his cross from the right take a deflection off Dani Alves before looping towards the top corner of the net; Pinto, however, was up to the challenge to tip the ball over for a corner.
Barca, slowly but surely, started getting a foothold in the game, taking control of possession, with the trio of Xavi Hernandez, Cesc Fabregas and Sergio Busquets running the game in midfield.
The Catalans' first real chance came soon after in the 12th minute, when Messi played a delightful ball over the top of the Real defense to Jordi Alba, who, unfortunately, volleyed horribly wide.
After that initial burst, Real were happy to sit back, invite Barca to play through them while looking to hit on that quick counter-attack.
Barcelona came close with a freekick of their own, with Xavi curling a glorious strike onto the crossbar with goalkeeper Diego Lopez, making his debut, well beaten.
Xavi then surely thought he had opened the scoring with Messi taking advantage of a poor backpass from Carvalho, before slipping in the midfielder, whose strike was brilliantly cleared off the line by Varane.
Karim Benzema at the other end nearly made it 1-0, but his strike went a whisker wide of the post.
Barcelona came out with more venom in the second half and after a five-minute spell of sustained pressure, they broke through with the opening goal.
Messi tirelessly working for his team nicked the ball off Real in a dangerous area, with possession falling to Fabregas, who calmly curled one into the bottom corner.
Ronaldo then inexplicably missed a sitter of a header from two yards out off a cross from Essien as Real looked to get their way back in the tie, with Jose Mourinho bringing on Luka Modric for Jose Callejon.
Real's pressure paid off with the youngster Varane, who was the best player on the pitch, powering home a header in the 81st minute to keep the tie very much in the balance going into the second leg at the Camp Nou.
