Real Madrid 1 Barcelona 3: Mourinho's upstarts handed reality check by Barca

Nearly, but still not quite — Jose Mourinho’s Madrid fell short of Barcelona’s benchmark again as the seventh clasico of the year ended with a victory for the Spanish champions.
Madrid had the perfect start with Karim Benzema scoring inside 23 seconds but Cristiano Ronaldo missed the chance to double the lead and Alexis Sanchez equalised.

Just Fab: Barcelona celebrate Fabregas' third goal

Head first: Fabregas beats Fabio Coentrao to score Barcelona's third

Xavi scored with a deflected shot soon after the break and after another Ronaldo miss, Cesc Fabregas put the result beyond doubt.
Mourinho had shown his hand with a bold team selection starting with Mesut Ozil behind Ronaldo, Angel Di Maria and Benzema. It was not the choice of a man still in fear of the Barca side that put five past his team one year and 11 days earlier.

First up: Real Madrid's Karim Benzema celebrates his early strike

Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola surprisingly picked Carles Puyol ahead of Javier Mascherano.
The Argentine has been Barcelona’s most consistent defender but Puyol’s incredible record of not being on the losing side for Barcelona in 19 months had persuaded his manager that he was the man for the big occasion and his Ronaldo-shackling performance completely justified the decision.
Right on cue, the rain began to come down on an already wet pitch five minutes before kick-off and with conditions not favourable towards goalkeepers looking to play the ball out from the back, Madrid went 1-0 up with the quickest goal in El Clasico history.
Victor Valdes kicked straight out to Di Maria who tried to find Benzema.

Up for it: but Benzema's header went straight at the keeper

MATCH FACTS

Real Madrid: Casillas, Coentrao, Pepe, Ramos, Marcelo, Alonso, Diarra (Khedira 63), Di María (Higuaín 68), Ozil (Kaka 58), Ronaldo, Benzema.
Scorer: Benzema 1.
Booked: Alonso, Diarra, Pepe, Ramos
Barcelona: Valdes, Alves, Pique, Puyol, Abidal, Busquets, Xavi, Fabregas (Keita 79), Iniesta (Pedro 89), Sanchez (Villa 84), Messi.

Scorers: Sanchez 30, Xavi 53, Fabregas 66
Booked: Sanchez, Messi, Pique
Attendance: 79,900.

His pass was blocked by Sergio Busquets but ran to Ozil, whose shot was blocked by Busquets again but the rebound fell perfectly for Benzema to smash into the roof of Valdes’ net.
Real Madrid were on a 15-match winning run and looking to strike a potentially decisive blow in the race for the Primera Division trophy, which rivals Barca had lifted for three years in a row.
The capital club kicked off with a lead of three points with a game in hand. But the tricky surface was also a problem for their defenders and when Sergio Ramos slipped, Messi robbed him and homed in on Iker Casillas.
The Madrid captain got down to his right to turn the Argentine’s shot round his post.
Benzema tested Valdes again on 10 minutes with a header from a Di Maria cross. The keeper saved comfortably but then sent his kick straight down the pitch to Casillas. It was a nervous start from the visiting goalkeeper.
Yet another poor kick from Valdes went straight to Xabi Alonso but his attempt at sending it over the goalkeeper’s head failed.

Leveller: Alexis Sanchez's shot beats Real Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas

Valdes was urging his players not to give the ball back to him on the greasy surface.
Di Maria was the next victim of the conditions, slipping inside the penalty box and needing lengthy treatment off the pitch.
On 25 minutes it should have been 2-0 to Madrid. Benzema played in Ronaldo but from the edge of the area he blasted wide.

Behind you: Rivals Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho on the touchline (left), German boss Joachim Loew and Spanish tennis ace and Real Madrid fan Rafa Nadal in the stands

Real’s leading scorer was losing his personal duel with Puyol while at the other end Messi was getting the better of every Madrid defender who came near him.
When he was brought down by Alonso with 25 minutes on the clock, referee David Fernandez showed his first card.
Sanchez followed him into the book moments later with a crude challenge on Di Maria.

In control: Barcelona's Argentinian forward Lionel Messi

Sanchez combined with Messi as Barca levelled on the half hour. Messi slalomed past two lunges and slipped a pass through for the Chilean to find Casillas’ bottom right-hand corner.
Messi then won the ball back in his own half, robbing Di Maria with a sliding challenge. His industry was almost punished though. He had been booked for protesting a late challenge from Pepe on Sanchez and when he brought down Alonso two minutes before the break, the referee considered a second yellow.

Beaten: Real keeper Casillas is flat out after Fabregas' strike

The Argentine stayed on and Barcelona were ahead six minutes into the second half when Xavi’s harmless looking shot spun off Marcelo’s heel and wrong-footed Casillas.
Mourinho replaced Ozil with Kaka and Madrid pressed but the game was decided in the space of two minutes.

Dejection: Cristiano Ronaldo was on the losing side against Barcelona... again

From an Alonso cross, Ronaldo headed wide with only the keeper to beat and with almost their next attack, Dani Alves crossed to the back post where Fabregas sent a diving header past Casillas.
The introduction of Seydou Keita was the trigger for some racist chanting from a small section of the Bernabeu.
That aside, Spanish football served up a fine spectacle in difficult conditions but that will be of little consolation to Mourinho, who this morning is again looking up at Barcelona in the title race