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The first El Clasico clash of the season saw Real Madrid hand Barcelona a 3-1 beating at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, driving the Madridistas to the top of La Liga on Sunday, October 16.
Notably, the first big chance of the game went to Raphinha, whose decent effort from just outside the area was held by Lunin. Another major opportunity went to Robert Lewandowski, whose linkup with Ousmane Dembele saw the ball go just wide after deflecting off David Alaba.
The Barca attack looked convincing and might have given the Blaugranes some hope about things to come. However, they couldn't have been further from the truth as the Madridistas soon took charge.
12 minutes into the game, it was Real Madrid who struck first, thanks to a poacher's effort from Karim Benzema. Against the run of play, the hosts marauded into the middle third before Toni Kroos discharged a through-pass for Vinicius Jr to run into. The forward placed his effort brilliantly, but Marc-Andre ter Stegen parried it back into play, where Benzema arrived to prod the ball home.
A shell-shocked Barcelona side overcame their surprise and went into attacking mode quickly, but were not clinical enough to secure the vital equalizer. Lewandowski had the ball on a platter across the face of goal, but the forward managed to put it over the bar. Dembele also had a chance to level the score but placed his header over the bar as well.
The Madridistas took advantage of their visitors' poor clinical approach to the game to deal them another blow. This time, it was Federico Valcerde who blasted the ball into the back of the net to cement Real's dominance and scatter Barca's control of the game. Ferland Mendy and Vinicius Junior linked up brilliantly on their flank before the fullback released the ball for Valverde to power past Ter Stegen.
While Barcelona had more possession and shots at goal, their opponents were the more clinical side and wasted no time in punishing them before half-time.
Real Madrid fail to secure a clean sheet against Barcelona
The Blaugrana eventually fought back for a late goal against the Madridistas, and it was thanks to quick thinking from Ferran Torres and Lewandowski. The former Bayern Munich forward flicked a brilliant ball onto Torres, and the former Manchester City attacker halved the lead with a clean shot into the far corner.
Before the late goal, Real Madrid notably had a great chance to secure the win in style. Benzema curled the ball into the bottom corner but it was chalked off for offside. They eventually had the chance to make do with a penalty caused by Eric Garcia, who tripped up Rodrygo. The forward placed his chance beyond Ter Stegen and put Barca further behind in injury time.
Here is how Twitter reacted to Real Madrid's El Clasico win against Barcelona:
Barcelona will lock horns with Villarreal in their next game on October 21, while Real Madrid play Elche on October 20.
