By Victor Kanayo
Real Madrid on Sunday October 16, 2022 inflicted their rivals Barcelona with their first league defeat of the season in the 250th El Clasico to go top of La Liga.
The rivals started the day with seven wins and a draw from their opening eight games – but Real go three points clear now as they remain unbeaten.
Karim Benzema scored Real’s opener after Vinicius Jr’s shot had been saved into his path by Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
Federico Valverde doubled the champions’ lead before half-time with a lovely 20-yard drive.
Ferran Torres pulled one back from Robert Lewandowski’s flick-on but Rodrygo settled it with a penalty.
This was a first away La Liga defeat in almost a year in charge of Barcelona for Xavi.
Benzema led Real Madrid to the Champions League and La Liga titles last season in a campaign which is likely to win him the Ballon d’Or.
He has had a slow scoring start to this season though. His opener, to cap off a swift counter-attack, was only his fourth La Liga goal of the season.
The France international thought he had a fifth in the second half with a fine finish from outside the box – but he had not heard the whistle going for an offside as he celebrated with the home fans.
One man in flying form before Sunday’s game was Barcelona’s Robert Lewandowski, who like Benzema is 34.
The two-time Best Fifa Men’s Player netted nine goals in his first eight games in La Liga following a summer move from Bayern Munich.
Meanwhile, Nigeria international Victor Osimhen was the hero same day at the Diego Armando Maradona stadium as Napoli came back to beat visiting Bologna 3-2.
Zirkazee opened the scoring for the away side in the 41st minute but Napoli responded quickly with an equalizer from Juan Jesus in the 44th minute.
Osimhen who started the day from the bench was introduced in the 46th minute before Hirvin Lozano put the host ahead in the 49th minute.
Gambian International Musa Barrow put Bologna level in the 54th while Osimhen sealed the win for Napoli in the 69th minute.
The win is Napoli’s 10th consecutive victory in all competitions this season.
