Madrid, Spain (SportsNetwork.com) - Real Madrid fell behind early but stormed back to collect a 3-1 win in El Clasico at the Bernabeu on Saturday, handing Barcelona its first defeat of the La Liga season.
Neymar granted the visitors the lead after only four minutes, but Madrid rallied through Cristiano Ronaldo, Pepe and Karim Benzema to move to 21 points on the season, bringing the Merengues to within one point of the Catalans at the top of the table.
Real Madrid has won six straight in league play, dismantling opponents by a combined score of 28-4.
The three goals conceded at the Bernabeu on Saturday were Barcelona's first of the season, bringing a halt to the club's impressive start to the campaign on the defensive end.
El Clasico started brightly for the Catalans as they drew first blood in the fourth minute when Luis Suarez picked out Neymar with a cross-field pass. The Brazilian collected the aerial pass and drifted inside before slotting a cool right-footed finish past Iker Casillas at the far post.
Real Madrid nearly leveled the score in the 10th minute when Karim Benzema hit the woodwork twice in quick succession. The France international got on the end of Ronaldo's cross and headed the delivery off the crossbar. He then claimed the rebound and lashed his second attempt of the post from close range.
The hosts eventually got on equal terms when a low cross in front of goal was blocked by the outstretched arm of Gerard Pique, resulting in a penalty kick that Ronaldo fired home with great assuredness.
The two sides went into the halftime interval on equal footing, but the hosts needed just five minutes of second-half play to break the deadlock as a 50th- minute corner kick from Toni Kroos was headed home by Pepe.
Barcelona nearly answered six minutes later when Jeremy Mathieu unleashed a left-footed effort that looked destined for the upper corner, but Casillas managed to bat the shot out for a corner kick.
The dagger for Madrid came just after the hour mark from a brilliantly- executed counter.
Barcelona pushed forward to make the most of a corner kick, but the hosts cleared their lines to release Isco down the left flank. The young Spaniard centered the ball to Ronaldo who kept it moving to Benzema. The French striker then played a quick give-and-go with James Rodriguez to get in behind the Barcelona defense before sliding a shot off the post and into the back of the net.
Real Madrid closed out the match with the two-goal edge in tact, earning its first quality league win of the season.
Valencia advanced to third place in La Liga by claiming a 3-1 victory over Elche at the Mestalla on Saturday.
The hosts were three goals to the good thanks to strikes from Shkodran Mustafi and Daniel Parejo, as well as an own goal from David Lomban. Elche, meanwhile, pulled back its consolation goal through Jonathas in the 90th minute.
Elsewhere on Saturday, Xabier Etxeita tallied the lone goal in Athletic Bilbao's 1-0 win at Almeria, Xisco struck three minutes from time to grant Cordoba a 1-1 draw against Real Sociedad and Granada was held to a 1-1 draw at Eibar.
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