Having slipped three points behind their fierce rivals despite having played an extra match, Los Blaugranes were aware that only a win would suffice as they looked to revive their title bid against Mourinho's side, who had won 15 games on the spin prior to kick-off.
Barcelona were able to call upon their first-choice centre-back partnership of Carles Puyol and Gerard Piqué whilst Cesc Fabregas and Alexis Sanchez were the preferred options in attack, supporting top goal-scorer Lionel Messi.
However, the Spanish champions appeared to be suffering from the pre-match jitters and the volatile home crowd, conceding after just 22 seconds, the fastest goal scored in an El Clasico contest. Barcelona were found guilty of trying to play out of defence when Victor Valdes's clearance went straight to the feet of Angel Di Maria who drilled the ball into the penalty area. The ball struck Sergio Busquets and rebounded to Mesut Ozil whose volley once again hit the Spanish international and the ball fell kindly into the path of Karim Benzema who smashed it into the back of the net from close range sending the home support into raptures.
It was just the start that Barcelona fans had feared, an early advantage to their hosts who now had a buoyant crowd spurring them on. Los Blancos continued to dominate in the early stages and really should have been two goals ahead when Cristiano Ronaldo spurned a glorious opportunity. Benzema did well to reach Marcelo's lofted pass and squared the ball to the Portuguese forward on the edge of the box but last season's top league goalscorer shot wide with Di Maria screaming for it on the far side. Considering he had scored 21 goals in his previous 20 matches, one would have expected Ronaldo to have buried the opportunity and given Real Madrid a two-goal cushion.
Against Barcelona, you have to be at your clinical best and Mourinho's side were made to rue their early missed chances on the half-hour mark when summer signing Alexis Sanchez converted his fifth league goal of the campaign following a moment of brilliance from Messi. The Argentine forward, who had been relatively quiet in the opening stages, picked up the ball just inside the Madrid half before embarking on one of his trademark slalom runs, leaving white shirts in his wake, before feeding a perfectly-weighted pass into the path of the onrushing Chilean, who fired across Iker Casillas into the far corner, to stun the home crowd.
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