MATCH REPORT: Real Madrid Beat Barcelona 3-1 In End-to-End El Clasico
Real Madrid beat Barcelona 3-1 in Saturday’s El Clasico in the Nou Camp to move six points clear of their rivals in the La Liga standings.
Both teams started positive and scored in the first 10 minutes of the encounter.
However, Real Madrid went ahead through a Sergio Ramos penalty and then Luka Modric sealed the win late on, as Zinedine Zidane side jumped to 13 points, two ahead of Real Sociedad and Villarreal.
With the defeat, Lionel Messi and Barcelona remain 10th in La Liga standings on seven points.
Federico Valverde gave Real Madrid the lead with a fifth-minute strike, but Ansu Fati became the youngest ever El Clasico scorer just three minutes later when he guided home from close range.
Ramos won and scored a penalty from a Clement Lenglet’s shirt-tug to put Real ahead in the 63rd minute, before Modric’s cool and composed finish wrapped up a deserved win for the visitors in the 90th minute.
The margin could have been larger had it not been for some impressive saves late by goalkeeper Neto.
“It was the plan for the game to have control of the game,” Barcelona head coach Ronald Koeman said after the match. “We changed Leo’s position, put Ansu as a reference point.
“Tried to look for space behind Madrid’s defence and have players on the wide with good ball control, going between lines and one reference up front. Can be happy in that sense, we played well.
“When you’re losing, we have to try and improve and create chances to score with the players on the pitch.
“We opted to freshen things up wide with Ousmane [Dembele] and [Francisco] Trincao, to get in one-on-one positions with more speed. Antoine [Griezmann] too up front with Leo. Then try from the 35th minute to take risks.”
It was an important victory for Zidane, who was under pressure after two shock defeats to newly promoted Cadiz in La Lifa and an under strength Shakhtar Donestsk in the Champions League in midweek.
