MADRID ENDS BARCELONA 39 MATCHES IN ALL COMPETITIONS UNBEATEN RUN.
Two of Spain's most prolific sides returned from the international break and converged in a battle of No. 1 vs No. 3 in La Liga on Saturday. Following a 4-0 demolition at the Santiago Bernabeu earlier in the season, Los Blancos were aiming to exact revenge on their bitter rivals.
With Lionel Messi starting this time around, searching for his 500th goal (club and country), the Catalans, with a win, would have stretched their lead atop the league to 13 points. But Real answered with a 2-1, come-from-behind victory.
Here are some notes on El Clasico:
-- Real Madrid handed Barcelona their first loss since Oct. 3, 2015 vs Sevilla. The loss snaps Barcelona's 39-game unbeaten streak and their 34-game undefeated run at home, which dated back to February 2015 and a loss to Malaga.
-- Cristiano Ronaldo was the hero, scoring the game-winning goal in the 85th minute. It was his 16th goal in El Clasico, moving him past Raul and into third on the game's all-time top-scorers list. Lionel Messi, who tops the list, has not scored in his last five games vs. Real Madrid in all competitions, dating back to 2014.
-- Karim Benzema, who equalised the game in the second half, scored his eighth career Clasico goal in all competitions. He has six league goals vs. Barcelona since 2010.
-- Gerard Pique scored his second career goal against Real Madrid. His only prior Clasico goal was in May 2009 when Barcelona won 6-2 at the Bernabeu.
-- Since Barcelona's last home loss, Luis Suarez (35), Messi (33) and Neymar (24) had combined to score 92 -- 77 percent -- of Barcelona's 119 Camp Nou goals in all competitions. The last time the trio all failed to score in a home game was on Aug. 29, 2015 vs Malaga.
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