Real Madrid have no defence as they surrender title supremacy
By Ben Hayward. Everything had appeared in Real Madrid's favour. With Barcelona faltering in recent weeks and Atletico also in their slipstream, Carlo Ancelotti's side approached theClasicowith confidence and the comfortable cushion of a four-point advantage over their fierce foes. All they had to do was defend it. But they couldn't. Defending, in fact, was far from the strong point of either side on Sunday. Andres Iniesta was allowed time and space to escape alone on the left and blast Barca into an early lead. Then, Karim Benzema twice took advantage of poor marking from the Catalans to turn it around before Lionel Messi negotiated his way through a crowd of Madrid defenders to make it 2-2 at half-time. The second half was a tale of three penalties: Madrid got the first when Cristiano Ronaldo went down outside the area in what looked an innocuous challenge by Dani Alves; Neymar then threw himself to the ground after a collision which saw Sergio Ramos sent off and Messi m...