EL-Clasico: Ronaldo gives Real Madrid late win over Barcelona

Cristiano Ronaldo netted a late winner at Camp Nou on Saturday as Real Madrid stunned Barcelona at home with a 2-1 victory to hand ZInedine Zidane his first El Classico win as the Los Blancos boss.

While many had expected Barcelona to get goals from any of the attacking trio of Lionel Messi, Neymar or Luis Suarez, it was defender Gerard Pique who gave the Catalan giants the lead.

Pique benefited from Ivan Rakitic’s ball to put Barcelona ahead 11 minutes after the break.

The Spaniard pulled off his marker from a corner and powered a header past Navas but their lead lasted for just six minutes following Karim Benzema’s equalizer.

While a draw would have helped maintain status-quo, Ronaldo’s strike inside the final five minutes settled scores in favour of the visitors to revenge a first leg 4-0 defeat.

Ronaldo rose to the occasion and silenced his critics in the process as he blasted Bale’s far-post cross past Bravo and effectively ended Bracelona’s astonishing 39-game unbeaten run.

Match stats

Barcelona 1-2 Real Madrid

Pique 56 (B) Benzema 62, Ronaldo 85, Ramos sent off 83 (RM)

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

Real Madrid: Navas; Carvajal, Ramos, Pepe, Marcelo; Kroos, Modric, Casemiro; Bale (Vazquez 90), Benzema (Jese 80), Ronaldo

Referee: Hernandez Hernande