Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti says he was proud of his players after they fought back from goal down to beat Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday.
Neymar curled home the opener from a Luiz Suarez crossfield pass but Cristiano Ronaldo denied the Catalans a record nine-game consecutive league clean sheet from the penalty spot, after defender Gerard Pique prevented Marcelo’s low cross with his arm.
Pepe thumped a powerful header into Barca’s net before Karim Benzema placed the icing on the cake, converting a nice counter-attack move.
“I’m proud of these players because their professionalism and seriousness is unique,” said the 55-year-old.
“We didn’t lose our heads after going behind. We stuck to our ideas and everything came off well.
“We wanted to attack with possession, using the wings. In the second half, we won the game because we wanted to win it.
“This is a very important win for us because Barcelona were very strong, and we achieved our goal of cutting the points gap so we are very satisfied.”
The defeat was Barca’s first of the season after nine matches, which moved Real up to second place in the table.
Real now trail Barcelona by a solitary point in the table and it was their sixth successive league win.
