Late Cristiano Ronaldo goal fires Real Madrid to 2-1 win over Barcelona in El Clásico

Barcelona’s 39-game unbeaten streak has been ended at Camp Nou, and by their biggest rivals. Despite going behind early and suffering a late red card, Real Madrid turned in a brilliant second half performance, coming from behind to win El Clásico, 2-1.

Gerard Pique scored the opening goal, capitalizing on a corner kick. But Karim Benzema equalized in the 62nd minute, and the goal was wild from then until the end. A sending off for Sergio Ramos appeared to end Madrid’s chances of staging a comeback, but Cristiano Ronaldo scored three minutes later, notching one of his biggest Clásico goals ever.

Before the match, there was a tribute to Barcelona legend Johan Cruyff, followed by a moment of silence that wasn’t particularly silent. Ronaldo wasn’t pleased with the lack of respect, and gestured his disapproval at the traveling Madrid fans before kickoff.

Barca started the much stronger of the two teams and would have been ahead in the 8th minute if not for a terrible miss by Luis Suarez. He had a tap-in off a square ball by Neymar, but got his feet tangled and couldn’t even force Keylor Navas to make a save. The Costa Rican did have to make a great stop in the 19th minute, though, parrying a hard strike from Ivan Rakitic.

Lionel Messi thought he’d earned a penalty in the 24th minute when he went down under a challenge by Sergio Ramos, but the referee judged Ramos to have made a clean tackle. Replays were unclear, featuring plenty of contact, but also a slight touch of the ball by the Madrid defender and Messi leaning into him.

Suarez picked up a suspension for Barca’s next game in the 27th minute, thanks to a spinning back fist to the face of Pepe. He earned a yellow card, his fifth of the season in La Liga.

The second half didn’t start much differently than the first. Navas made his best save of the match in the 54th minute off a brilliant strike by Messi, but Barcelona would score off the ensuing corner kick. Pique lost Pepe, who got caught behind another player, and connected with a header that Madrid’s goalkeeper didn’t have much chance of saving.

But Madrid’s answer was swift. Marcelo did most of the work on their 62nd minute equalizer with a brilliant lengthy run and pass out to the right flank for Toni Kroos. His cross was deflected, but it fell right to Benzema, who hit a spectacular jumping scissor volley into the back of the net.

It looked like Gareth Bale had scored a go-ahead goal in the 81st minute, rising above Jordi Alba to head in a cross. He didn’t appear to make any kind of unnecessary or unusual contact with Barca’s left back, but was called for a foul. The next two minutes were just as bad for Madrid -- Ronaldo hit the crossbar, then Ramos picked up his second yellow card to add to his La Liga record for red cards in a career. The referee was generous to him all match, and only sent him off for roughly his sixth yellow cardable offense.

And yet, Madrid fought their way to victory, thanks to Bale’s cross and Ronaldo’s finish in the 85th minute.

Amidst all the talk that Ronaldo and Bale don’t show up in big games, and had been invisible for most of this Clásico, they came up with their biggest play of the season.

The Blaugrana pushed forward for an equalizer, but they never found it. Madrid’s defense held firm and Los Merengues reacted to winning this edition of El Clásico at Camp Nou like they’d won a trophy.

Barcelona: Bravo, Alba, Mascherano, Pique, Alves, Busquets, Rakitic (Turan 74’), Iniesta, Neymar, Suarez, Messi

Goals: Pique (56’)

Real Madrid: Navas, Marcelo, Ramos (red 83’), Pepe, Carvajal, Casemiro, Modric, Kroos, Ronaldo, Benzema (Jese 78’), Bale (Lucas 90’)

Goals: Benzema (62’), Ronaldo (85’)