Joan Monfort/Associated Press

Sergio Ramos' Penalty Seals Win for Real Madrid vs. Lionel Messi, Barcelona

Mike Chiari

Veteran defender Sergio Ramos scored the go-ahead goal in the 63rd minute Saturday as Real Madrid defeated Barcelona 3-1 in El Clasico at Camp Nou in Barcelona, Spain.

Ramos was pulled down by Barca defender Clement Lenglet in the box, and after a video review determined that it was indeed a foul, Ramos made no mistake by depositing his penalty kick past Neto:

Luka Modric then put the match away for Real Madrid in the 90th minute with an insurance marker to finalize the 3-1 score:

While Real Madrid's top players made a significant impact on the match, Barca superstar Lionel Messi did not factor into the scoring.

By virtue of the win, Real Madrid improved to 4-1-1 and moved past Real Sociedad and Villareal for first-place in the La Liga table. Meanwhile, Barcelona are now 2-1-2 and remain in 10th.

Per OptaJose, this marks the first time Real Madrid have won the first El Clasico match of the La Liga season since 2014 and only the second time in the past 13 seasons:

It didn't take long for Los Blancos to jump ahead Saturday, as Karim Benzema threaded a perfect pass to Federico Valverde, who scored in the fifth minute to put Real Madrid up 1-0:

While it would have been easy for Barcelona to lose their confidence given their struggles for far this season, that wasn't the case, as the Blaugrana struck right back.

Just three minutes after Valverde gave Real Madrid the lead, 17-year-old phenom Ansu Fati scored for Barca to tie the score at 1-1:

As ESPN Stats & Info pointed out, Fati made history with that goal by becoming the youngest player ever to score in El Clasico:

Fox Soccer summed up all Fati has already accomplished in his young career despite still being a few days shy of his 18th birthday:

Another significant, history-making moment occurred in Saturday's El Clasico as well, with Sergino Dest getting a start for Barca.

According to Fox Soccer, Dest became the first American in the 118-year history of El Clasico to play in the match:

With the 19-year-old Dest acquitting himself well and the 17-year-old Fati scoring, it is clear that Barcelona have a bright future even though it has been a disappointing start to the 2020-21 season for Ronald Koeman's side.

Meanwhile, Real Madrid appear back on track after a La Liga loss to Cadiz last week and a surprising Champions League defeat at the hands of Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday.

Real Madrid will attempt to carry their momentum into their next match when they face Borussia Monchengladbach in a Champions League clash Tuesday followed by a La Liga tilt with Huesca next Saturday.

Barcelona will look to bounce back Wednesday against Juventus in a Champions League match and then next Saturday against La Liga side Alaves.  

   

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