As Real Madrid beat Barcelona for the first time since talismanic forward Cristiano Ronaldo left them for Juventus, the Portuguese star cheered from the stands. As Vinicius Junior netted in the 71st minute to give the home side the lead, Ronaldo can be seen immediately raising his arms and applauding the goal. Vinicius Jr also copied Ronaldo's celebration after scoring as a tribute to his idol. Goals from Vinicius Jr and Mariano Diaz gave Real Madrid a crucial 2-0 win in the El Clasico and pushed them back to the top of the La Liga table.

Vinicius does the Ronaldo celebration while CR7 is applauding in the stands pic.twitter.com/MZrEkmwpG6

— stefan yu (@yutc0202) March 2, 2020

Real Madrid came into the match with only one win in their last five matches. Their last match ended in a 1-2 defeat at home to Manchester City in the first leg of the round of 16 in the Champions League.

But Madrid came out strong against Barcelona, with Thibaut Courtois pulling off some fine saves to keep the visitors at bay.

They took the lead in the 71st minute. Karim Benzema came short and pointed right to encourage Vinicius to run in behind. Kroos found him and Vinicius' shot deflected off the sliding Pique to beat Ter Stegen at his near post.

The game opened up as Barcelona chased an equaliser. Marcelo celebrated when Messi's surge through was stopped by Raphael Varane. Pique headed Messi's cross over at the near post. Messi picked up a yellow card for a frustrated slide on Casemiro.

In injury time, Ter Stegen ventured up for a late free-kick but it was Madrid that struck again. Mariano sped past Nelson Semedo and finished from the angle.

(With AFP inputs)