Jose Mourinho made a host of changes to his Blancos side before the all important Champions League tie and surprisingly got the better of the Catalans yet again.
Only a few days back, Real Madrid had recorded a famous victory at the home of their bitter rivals, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/FC-Barcelona-c39078.
The two Spanish powerhouses had to meet over two legs for the Copa Del Rey semifinals, and it was the capital based team that advanced through to the final of the Spanish Cup.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Barcelona-c38604 were the holders of the competition and had got a favourable result from the first leg, which ended 1-1.
Cristiano Ronaldo was however there to mark a full stop at the end of the Barcelona run in the Copa as his magical displays helped Madrid march on to the final of the competition.
Only four days after the Copa clash, the greatest derby in the world took central stage once again as Madrid hosted their bitter rivals in La Liga.
Barcelona manager Roura fielded the strongest possible side as compared to his Madrid counter-part, who had made 7 changes to the side that battered Barcelona 3-1 at Camp Nou.
Real took a surprise lead through http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Álvaro-c5280 Morata.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Diego-c11058 Lopez at the near post. 1-1 it stood.
With the introduction of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Cristiano-Ronaldo-c9629 in the second half, the game took a swerve as Ronaldo rose to the occasion and started to torment the Barcelona defense and Victor Valdes with some mesmerizing shooting.
With the scores tied at 1-1, Sergio Ramos made amends for his earlier error as he headed past Victor Valdes in the latter stages of the game to give Madrid a deserved lead.
Cristiano http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ronaldo-c31734 came close to scoring on two occasions as his efforts twice crashed of the frame of the goal for what would have been some wonderful goals.
The tempo of the game rose as both the sides went ugly in the tackling, the referee booking players in the consequences.
Madrid held to the lead and have reduced their rival’s lead at the top of the table to 13 points following their tremendous showing on Saturday evening.
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