Barcelona-Real Madrid: Rivals Battle, Barcelona Earns Crucial 2-0 Victory

Barcelona stormed the Santiago Bernabeu to inflict Real Madrid's first defeat of the season at home.

Real Madrid had previously won all 15 of their home matches, but they could not stop Barcelona opening a three-point gap at the top of La Liga.

The game had been billed as Cristiano Ronaldo against Lionel Messi, but El Clasico contained much more.

Xavi bossed the game from midfield and was influential throughout, providing assists for both Barcelona goals. In the first half, the midfielder's perfectly-flighted chip found  Messi, who fired past Iker Casillas. After the break, another pass from Xavi carved open the Real Madrid defence once more, allowing Pedro to curl a neat finish past the helpless 'keeper.

Victor Valdes made key saves to deny Ronaldo, Rafael van der Vaart, and Fernando Gago as Real Madrid pressured for an equaliser. Valdes has become an important member of this Barcelona side, keeping 26 clean sheets in all competitions this season.

His opposite number Casillas also pulled off two impressive saves to deny Messi adding to his 40 goals so far this season.

Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola opted to utilise Dani Alves in attack, with Messi playing through the middle and Thierry Henry relegated to the bench. Carles Puyol shifted to right back, and Gabriel Milito partnered Gerard Pique in the centre of defence.

Alves was disappointing in the first half as Barcelona failed to adapt. Guardiola switched Alves to his usual right back position where his overlapping runs caused the Real Madrid defenders problems.

Guardiola won the tactical battle against Real Madrid coach Manuel Pellegrini and becomes the first Barcelona coach to record four wins in a row against Real Madrid. Barcelona were organised in defence, and Real Madrid had no answer for Barcelona's possession football and intricate passing.

Pellegrini brought on veteran pair Raul and Guti as well as Karim Benzema in an attempt to increase his side's attacking options and salvage something from the match.

In the final minutes, Raul saw a goal disallowed after Benzema was judged to have handled the ball.

The win puts Barcelona three points clear at the top of La Liga and gives them a superior head-to-head record over their rivals. There are 21 points still left to play for in the final seven games, but this win will give Barcelona a significant psychological boost in their attempt to defend their title.

The celebrations at the final whistle showed the belief is strong amongst the Barcelona players.