Real Madrid Beats Atletico Madrid 2-1 In La Liga Derby

Even though it's been 12 years since Atletico Madrid beat its far superior neighbors Real Madrid, fans of both clubs packed into Vicente Calderón stadium for Saturday's highly anticipated La Liga derby between these sides.

And, as expected, by the full time whistle Real Madrid walked off the pitch the deserving 2-1 victors. However, it has to be said that the match was still entertaining, despite the fact Real is undoubtedly in a very different class to Atletico.

This was proven early on, when barely 10 minutes into the first half Real Madrid opened the scoring courtesy of their talented French striker Karim Benzema, who put the ball into the back of Atletico's net with nothing more than a slight flick.

As the Real Madrid fans erupted at Benzema's goal, it was a great vindication for the young striker who was all but written off when he struggled to find his feet soon after joining the club. Now with 10 goals to his name, he is back on track.

Try as they did to equalise, Atletico Madrid could not penetrate Real Madrid's solid defensive wall, and in the 32nd minute another successful attack from Real made it 2-0 thanks to a sterling effort from German attacking midfielder Mesut Ozil.

On that occasion, Real's Brazilian full back Marcelo dispatched a cross from the left that eventually found its way to Ozil who wasted no time in sending it to the back of Atletico's net, putting the club 2-0 ahead and more pressure on Atletico.

That score remained unchanged until halftime and for most of the second half until Atletico Madrid's persistence paid off in the 85th minute, courtesy of Argentinean striker Kun Aguero, who planted the ball into the bottom corner of Real's net.

But it wasn't enough, and Real Madrid got three points for the victory putting them on 73 points in the La Liga standings, five points behind leaders F.C. Barcelona, while Atletico Madrid were forced to swallow yet another derby defeat.

Here are the full Spanish La Liga results from the weekend: