Ramos, making a record 45th appearance in the ‘El Clasico’ fixture, was awarded the spot-kick following a VAR review, after falling in the area when his shirt was tugged by Barcelona defender Clement Lenglet. The defender showed his customary calm to score from the spot in the 63rd minute and restore the champion’s lead.
Federico Valverde had opened the scoring in the fifth minute only for forward Ansu Fati to equalise less than three minutes later. Barcelona ran out of steam in the second half and Madrid missed two big chances to seal the points after Ramos’s penalty. But, substitute Luka Modric finally put the result beyond doubt with a goal in added time.
The victory took La Liga holder Madrid back to the top of the standings on 13 points from six games, while Barcelona, which has only taken one point from its last three league outings, is on seven points from five games.
The win is a huge boost for Zinedine Zidane’s side, which went into the match reeling from back-to-back home defeats to Cadiz and Shakhtar Donetsk. Barcelona manager Ronald Koeman dropped Antoine Griezmann for the second game in a row, but was slow to turn to his bench, not making a change until bringing on the Frenchman and Francisco Trincao with nine minutes to go.
Thibaut Courtois and Neto each made impressive saves in the first half, while Coutinho should have given the Catalans the lead before the penalty. But, he somehow missed the target with a free header.
RESULT: Barcelona 1 lost to Real Madrid 3.
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