Ronaldo was out of sorts as Madrid surrendered to Barcelona's superiority

In the past few seasons, a Barcelona victory over Real Madrid has been season defining. Whilst the result remained the same, with Barca the victors once again, this time they will look at themselves and think it was more season saving.

With the vast majority of predictions angling towards Real Madrid completing the turning of the tide in the Spanish power stakes, many were suggesting Barca needed to ‘not lose’ in order to keep the title race alive, as opposed to win outright.

But win they did, as they overcame their rivals in a Clasico that for once defined the beauty of football, as opposed to advertising the ugly side of the game, which it so readily did last season.

Andres Iniesta lit up the Bernabeu with an artistic performance that must have made the World Cup winner the closest Barca player to receiving a standing ovation from the home fans since Ronaldinho’s one-man show in 2006.

In a week in which he was the man to miss out on the Ballon D’or three-man shortlist, to be replaced by Cristiano Ronaldo (who has had a phenomenal year, to be fair), El Ilusionista made his point clear by outshining all other players on the pitch, with even Lionel Messi having to stop and stare at some of fleet-footed work from his colleague.

The aforementioned Ronaldo however is in the docks with the Madrid media, as he put in another no-show in a Clasico. Whilst Messi was not at his best after being ramshackled by two Madrid players at a time, he still laid on a goal for Barca, whilst Ronaldo missed two guilt-edged chances that would have put Real in a commanding position and potentially changed the face of the Liga title race, whilst also spending half his time preening, posturing and play-acting, as the bad side of Cristiano Ronaldo was on display.

And twice, Ronaldo was made to pay for these misses, as within five minutes of each, Barca went up the other end and scored.

It’s almost easy to forget what a dream start Real had. Jose Mourinho had pulled a few tactical surprises in his line-up, with Fabio Coentrao selected a right-back and Sergio Ramos pulled into the middle to compensate for the injury-enforced absence of Ricardo Carvalho. Up front Karim Benzema was preferred to Gonzalo Higuain.

That latter selection seemed justified as the French striker scored the fasted ever goal in a meeting between these two sides, netting after just 23 seconds of the match.

Barca kicked off, instantly passing the ball about and letting everyone have an early touch of the ball. Real were perfectly prepared for this, instructed by Mourinho be press the ball high up the pitch, knowing Victor Valdes has strict instructions not to belt the ball up the pitch, but look for the pass.

With all options sectioned off by Real players, Valdes merely passed the ball to Angel Di Maria. A couple of ricochets later and the ball ended up at the feet of Benzema, who made no mistake from six yards, lashing the ball home with authority.

Barca responded as Iker Casillas was forced into saves from Messi and Xavi, before the first of Ronaldo’s crucial mistakes. Benzema did well, squaring the ball to the Portuguese forward, who skewed horribly wide when you would have banked on him at least hitting the target in so much space.

He was made to pay for this, as opposed to Real going 2-0 up, they found themselves at 1-1 four minutes later. Messi made what has become a trademark run through the centre of the pitch, shaking off the close attentions of three players dressed in white, to play through a perfectly weighted ball to Alexis Sanchez.

Sanchez, himself a surprise figure in the starting line-up at the expense of David Villa, took his first touch perfectly in his stride, the second giving him the space to go past Sergio Ramos before a third touch saw him angle the ball perfectly across Casillas to get Barca back on level terms in a half in which they had been second best for the vast majority.

Lionel Messi may have considered himself fortunate to play a part in the second half, having been booked for dissent, he left his foot in on Xabi Alonso, prompting a lot of baying from the home fans and players. But David Fernandez Borbalan, who was very cool and composed all game decided against producing a first-half red, allowing a major game-changer to pass by.

With a level playing field still in effect, Barcelona took an early second half lead in what can only be described as fortunate circumstances.

Nice build up play saw a tackle in the box ping up to Xavi, a full 30 yards from goal, who instinctively hit the ball on the volley. The ball seemed destined for Casillas’s hands, but a wicked deflection off the calf of Marcelo saw the ball spin, swirl and dance in the air, always staying just out of reach of the sprawling Spanish ‘keeper like a beautiful hallucination, before bouncing off the inside of the post and nestling in the back of the net.

Proof that everything that Xavi does is a thing of beauty, style and panache. Including lucky deflections.

Real pressed forward, searching for the equaliser they had so far deserved, but found their main goal machine out of sorts, as a pinpoint cross from Xabi Alonso found Ronaldo in acres of space, six yards out, but he inexplicably headed wide.

Again, there were instant repercussions for Ronaldo, as Barca romped up the other end of the pitch, Iniesta dancing through the middle of the park, laying the ball off for Messi, who in turn found Dani Alves. Alves then produced a perfect cross, for Cesc Fabregas, who had himself made a lung busting run towards the far post to meet the ball with a diving header and seal the points for Barca.

Real lost all confidence and shape, and quite frankly the scoreline could have looked far worse, as Iniesta in particular caused all sorts of havoc down the left flank, leaving Fabio Coentrao a twisted mess by the time he left the pitch to hero’s ovation from the travelling contingent.

Jose Mourinho was unusually contrite in his post-match assessment, with no refereeing decisions to blame, no conspiracy theories to air and no standard tirades to vent. Instead, luck was all he could blame, as he saw Barca score a goal that defied physics, and Ronaldo spurn chances that he would have backed Casillas to score.

In fact, Mourinho hasn’t been so blasé in a press conference since he was humbled 5-0 at Camp Nou last November, a suggestion that he is running out of ways to finally outwit the Catalans, with only one success in eight matches v Guardiola’s special team.

Barca will know they have achieved nothing yet, as they jet off to Japan to take part in the World Club Cup. Pep Guardiola admitted that himself, as while Barca go top, he fully expects Real to win their game in hand and reclaim the top spot.

But they have saved their league campaign. The potential to fall nine points behind Real Madrid by Christmas would have surely been insurmountable, whilst the opportunity to retake top spot (however briefly) could prove the perfect momentum shifter come 2012.