The planetary confrontation between Barcelona and Real Madrid at Camp Nou finished with the visitors on top. Real came out 2-1 winners and sent Barcelona to ninth position in the La Liga table.

Barcelona - Real Madrid 1-2
Real Madrid won the first El Clasico of the season, 2-1 at Camp Nou against Barcelona. (Image: Twitter/realmadrid)

Angry fans made life even harder for under-pressure Dutch coach Ronald Koeman. As he was leaving the stadium, some supporters kicked his car and insulted him. Koeman, a Barcelona legend since his playing days, has a difficult relationship with president Joan Laporta, with results also not on his side.

Late drama at Camp Nou

David Alaba opened the scoring with a beautiful shot to make it 1-0 to Real Madrid after 32 minutes. Sergiño Dest missed an immense chance for Barcelona minutes earlier, with the Catalonians haunted by the lost opportunity as they had trouble being dangerous in front of goal. Both teams waited until injury time to add some spice to the first El Clasico of the season. Lucas Vasquez made it 2-0 for Madrid in the third minute of added time, then Sergio Aguero saved Barcelona’s honor in the 97th minute of a tense finale.

For the former Manchester City star, the goal was his first in the Barcelona shirt. Aguero came on as a sub in the 74th minute, replacing Ansu Fati. For Aguero, Sunday’s game was only his second appearance for Barcelona, as he’s battled injury since he moved from England.

Real Madrid’s victory is the fourth consecutive Los Blancos score in El Clasico in front of their bitter rivals. Real didn’t record such a winning streak in front of their arch-rivals since 1965.

“We are disappointed by the result, but we must analyze and see what we have done well,” Ronald Koeman said after the match. “I think we did enough to get a different result,” the Dutchman added, suggesting a draw would have been the normal result.

His opponent, Carlo Ancelotti, praised his players’ commitment and said Real have ‘suffered’ for their win.

“We can compete, the team is solid. We have played against a great team, they have played a great game, we have suffered,” Ancelotti commented. “I’m happy we were able to suffer together and not lose control. The game was intelligent. We defended well, we missed a few passes, but played very well against the counters. We are happy we got three points,” the Italian went on adding.

Thanks to their win in Barcelona, Real Madrid returns to the top of La Liga, with 20 points in nine games. They can drop to second depending on the outcome of the clash between Atletico Madrid and Real Sociedad later on Sunday. FC Barcelona is ninth, on 15 points.