Ramos strikes in 90th as Madrid draws 1-1 at Barcelona

The Blaugrana have lost once, and drawn twice this season at Camp Nou, but are still La Liga betting favourites at 1.90 with SmartBets to win this tie.

For Modric at Madrid, read Andres Iniesta for Barcelona.

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. “The proof of that is in his percentage of successful passes (95.2%) and he was the second player in interceptions (Modric had 8 after Varane’s 10)”, wrote Marca.

More often than not, he is proving it in the big games.

Madrid, which also extended its unbeaten streak to 33 consecutive matches, is searching for its first domestic league title since 2012.

Both Luis Enrique and Zinedine Zidane believe their respective teams deserved to win Saturday’s crucial El Clasico at the Camp Nou.

He was a stalwart of arguably the greatest team since the turn of the century when Pep Guardiola led the Catalan giants to utter and complete domination five or six years ago, but the current Barca side are going through somewhat of a struggle, given their very high standards.

Real Madrid generally looked to be in control and with Luka Modric dominating in midfield, they began to get on top, although until the last 10 minutes of the first half the threat was more implied that real as Ronaldo failed to get involved.

“If it hadn’t been a goal, we would have said that that foul caused them to lose more time”, he told BeIn Sports when asked about the incident.

Just 10 minutes into the game, he took a stud to the left boot just off the pitch after chasing a ball alongside Dani Carvajal. If this wasn’t the Clasico, would we have seen Neymar continue? The team improved significantly on Saturday after the star midfielder entered the match in the second half. Will the manager react in the same way to the suggestion of dropping him for their next game?

“We have a six-point lead, but it does not change anything”, added the Frenchman.

Even though Barcelona played better for stretches, their lack of finishing doomed them to another slip at home, where they have just three wins in seven league games this campaign. “I don’t know if the result is fair or not, but it is what it is”. For all the hype it had been a low-quality match and one which certainly now gives Madrid the edge in this season’s title race.

Zidane concedes that Madrid “suffered” at times during the game, but was full of praise for the character and never-say-die attitude his team showed.