Real beat Barca, proceed to top
Real Madrid defeat rivals Barcelona 2-1 in the home in an entertaining, rain-soaked 'Clasico' on Saturday to stretch their winning run to six games in all competitions and go leading of La Liga for the earliest tie in 90 days.
Karim Benzema set the champions in control at a good soggy Alfredo di Stefano stadium with a wonderful backheel in the 14th minute while a good deflected Toni Kroos free of charge kick doubled their business lead in the 28th.
Barca hit backside on the hour tag through Oscar Mingueza and the defender almost found the equaliser down the road, as the Catalans had an enormous penalty charm waved away when Martin Braithwaite fell carrying out a task by Ferland Mendy.
Real midfielder Casemiro was sent away in stoppage time for picking right up two yellowish cards in the area of one minute while Barca alternative Ilaix Moriba hit the crossbar on the fourth minute of added period.
The hosts survived the nail-biting finish to complete the double over Barca in a league season for the very first time since 2008 and round away a sensational week just after beating Liverpool 3-1 on a Champions League quarter-final first leg in Tuesday. Zinedine Zidane's part became a member of Atletico Madrid on 66 details and moved the surface of the desk, although Atletico can reclaim first place if they visit True Betis on Sunday.
Barca, who shed for the first time found in the league since early December, dropped to third on 65.
Barca looked to dominate possession but were powerless to regulate Real's counterattacks and went behind when Federico Valverde hurdled a Jordi Alba deal with to shuttle down the pitch, feeding Lucas Vazquez whose low cross was turned in by Benzema's sublime backheel.
Real caught Barca from the break again when Vinicius Jr. raced to a Luka Modric move and was felled by Ronald Araujo. The no cost kick was in best spectrum for Kroos, whose shot bounced off the back of Sergino Dest to wrong-ft . Barca keeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
Real were inches from scoring a third when Valverde again tore down Barca's left-hand part and smacked the much post, Vazquez pouncing on the rebound but shooting straight in Ter Stegen.
Barca barely caused True any trouble before end of the primary half, when Lionel Messi reach the far post straight from a part. The Argentine acquired a better chance occasions later from within the area but could not beat Madrid's Thibaut Courtois.
Koeman took decisive actions in halftime, throwing on Antoine Griezmann for Dest and the French alternative helped draw Barca back into contention, playing a good dummy which resulted in Mingueza scoring.
The torrential rain caused Messi to improve his soaked shirt later in the overall game and the slippery conditions helped create the frantic finish, but Real weathered the storm.
