Sergio Ramos’s stoppage-time equaliser maintained Real Madrid’s six-point lead at the top of La Liga as the European champions salvaged a 1-1 draw at Barcelona in Saturday’s El Clasico.
Luis Suarez looked to have breathed new life into the title race when he headed home the opener from Neymar’s free-kick eight minutes into the second half.
Neymar and Lionel Messi then passed up huge chances to add to Barca’s advantage, and the hosts were made to pay when Real captain Ramos met Luka Modric’s free-kick with a powerful header to stretch Madrid’s unbeaten run in all competitions to 33 games.
Barcelona enjoyed the majority of possession, but with captain Andres Iniesta left on the bench on his return from a two-month injury layoff, lacked the creativity to break down Madrid before the break.
Sergi Roberto’s shot was deflected behind by Raphael Varane before Messi’s harmless free-kick was easily handled by Keylor Navas. At the other end the spotlight was on Cristiano Ronaldo more than ever in the absence of the injured Gareth Bale and following allegations of grand scale tax avoidance published by a series of European media organisations on Saturday. The Portuguese came to life towards the end of the first-half as he had Madrid’s first shot on target that was turned behind by Marc-Andre ter Stegen eight minutes before half-time and the German stood firm to deny another driven Ronaldo effort moments later. Varane also headed straight at Ter Stegen as Madrid looked the more likely to break the deadlock as half-time approached.
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