Daniel Carvajal (left) of Real Madrid competes with Ousmane Dembele of Barcelona during their La Liga match at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid on Oct. 16, 2022. (MENG DINGBO / XINHUA)

MADRID - First half goals from Karim Benzema and Fede Valverde and a late penalty from Rodrygo gave a solid Real Madrid a 3-1 win at home to FC Barcelona in El Clasico.

The win takes Madrid back to the top of La Liga after 90 minutes in which they were able to contain Barca with relative ease for most of the time

The win takes Madrid back to the top of La Liga after 90 minutes in which they were able to contain Barca with relative ease for most of the time.

Meanwhile, the result ends a dreadful week for Barca, whose chance of advancing at the Champions League was all but ended in midweek with a 3-3 draw at home to Inter Milan.

Barca weren't especially poor in the game, but failed to match Real Madrid's intensity, especially in midfield and defense.

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While Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti had no surprises in his starting 11, his Barca counterpart Xavi Hernandez produced a couple of surprises, resting Gavi and bringing Frenkie de Jong into his starting 11, with Gerard Pique dropping to the bench after his poor display last Wednesday.

As expected, the game got off to a frantic pace before setting into a pattern, with Barca controling more of the ball, but without looking secure.

Real Madrid took advantage of that in the 12th minute as Toni Kroos recovered the ball when a Barca attack broke down. The German held off Sergio Busquets before finding Vinicius Jr in lots of space down the Madrid left. Vinicius ran through on goal and although Ter Stegen saved his shot, the ball fell to Benzema, who made no mistake from close to the penalty spot to make it 1-0.

Barca reacted well and continued to control the ball, creating chances that Ousmane Dembele and Robert Lewandowski were unable to take, before Real Madrid caught them on the break again.

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Vinicius was again the instigator, running at the Barca defense before finding Ferland Mendy, who in turn fed the ball to Valverde to score with a rasping low drive from 25 meters in the 34th minute.

The second half got going with Kroos firing over after good work from Benzema in the 50th minute. Benzema then had the ball in the Barca net after a magnificent control and left foot shot, only for his effort to be ruled out for offside.

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Barca were controling the ball again, but lacked in spark and Xavi made a triple change with Gavi, Ferran Torres and Jordi Alba on for Raphinha, Busquets and Alexandre Balde. Ansu Fati came on in the 72nd minute and the youngster played a huge role as Ferran gave Barca a lifeline with seven minutes left to play.

Gavi won the ball for Fati, who beat one man, before playing a low ball for Ferran to slide into an empty net.

Madrid were in a difficult situation for a few minutes, but VAR decreed Eric Garcia's challenge on Rodrygo was a penalty and the Brazilian made no mistake from the spot to make it 3-1.