Barcelona upsets Real Madrid, 3-1

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Barcelona rallied after giving up a goal in the opening 21 seconds by scoring three unanswered goals to beat Real Madrid, 3-1, on Saturday in Spain’s Clasico on a cold, rainy night in Madrid.

With the win, Barcelona moves atop La Liga on goal differential. For Real Madrid, the loss snapped a 15-match winning streak. In the past seven years, the winner of the Real Madrid-Barcelona match has gone on to win the league title.

Mesut Ozil helped open the scoring, intercepting a poor clearance from Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes and sending the ball toward the net where Karim Benzema poked it in.

Visiting Barcelona needed 30 minutes to get the equalizer with Alexis Sanchez taking a beautiful through ball from Lionel Messi, then finding the back of the net from 12 yards.

Barcelona went ahead early in the second half when Xavi Hernandez’s shot bounced off the heel of Real Madrid’s Marcelo and into the goal.

Real Madrid had a chance to pull even about seven minutes later, but Cristiano Ronaldo’s header off a Xabi Alonso cross went wide. Barcelona then put the game away a minute later when Cesc Fabregas headed in a Dani Alves’ cross.

-- Kevin Baxter