Real Madrid returned to the top of LaLiga with a 3-1 victory over fierce rivals FC Barcelona in ElClasico on Sunday evening.
Los Blancos recalled David Alaba, Eder Militao, Dani Carvajal, Luka Modric and Vinicius Junior, while Barca restored Jules Kounde, Alejandro Balde and Frenkie De Jong to the side.
Real hit the first blow on 12 minutes after Vinicius' close-range shot from a tight angle following a surging run forced a save from Marc-Andre Ter Stegen only for Karim Benzema to finish on the rebound.
The Catalans nearly drew level at the midway point when a cross from the right by Raphinha rolled all the way through for Robert Lewandowski, but the forward scooped over from five yards out.
Los Blancos made it two after Eric Garcia flicked a looping ball into the path of Vinicius ten minutes to halftime and after racing clear cutback for Federico Valverde to find the bottom-corner.
Real looked to continue their dominant display following the interval, but the Catalans were able to drop deep and smother the home side's chances around the area.
Carlo Ancelotti's men seemed to have found a third minutes gone when Benzema met a cutback around the area from Vinicius and curled home, but the offside flag went up.
Barca's focus switched to the dugout inside the closing stages and brought on Ansu Fati in favour of Ousmane Dembele well before the remaining ten minutes.
The change proved decisive with seven minutes to go as Fati ran in down the left and cutback for fellow substitute Ferran Torres to tap in an unguarded net.
However, there were late drama as Real earned a penalty on review by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) after Garcia stepped on Rodrygo and the latter stepped up to tuck away and saw out the win.
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