Real Madrid powered on at the top of the Primera Division standings after continuing their overwhelming dominance of local rivals Atletico this evening. Real have not lost home or away to Atletico since 1999 and that run never looked like coming to an end after Jose Mourinho's in-form side scored early goals through Ricardo Carvalho and Mesut Ozil. That is the way the scoreline finished as Real remained a point clear of Barcelona at the summit and extended their unbeaten run under Mourinho to 15 games in all competitions, 11 of which have finished in victories. Real were in buoyant mood coming into the game after clinching their place in the knockout stages of the Champions League in midweek with a last-gasp equaliser at AC Milan, and they were quickly in control at an expectant Bernabeu. David de Gea saved from Pepe early on but the highly-rated young goalkeeper could do nothing to prevent Carvalho putting the hosts ahead in the 13th minute. Angel Di Maria's attempted pass through to Carvalho took a deflection off Tomas Ujfalusi but nevertheless fell perfectly for the Portugal centre-back, who slotted past De Gea. Gonzalo Higuain almost doubled Real's lead 60 seconds later but he was denied by a good save from De Gea, but the home side did make it 2-0 in the 19th minute through Ozil. Cristiano Ronaldo was fouled to the right of the area and from the resulting free-kick Ozil curled in a low cross-shot that flew past Atletico winger Jose Antonio Reyes at the near post before nestling into the far corner of the net. At that stage the writing looked to be in the wall for Atletico, who had lost 11 of their previous 17 meetings with Real, but to their credit Quique Sanchez Flores' men fought back impressively. Out-of-form striker Diego Forlan, who had failed to score in his previous 11 competitive matches for Atletico, looked certain to end his barren spell when Iker Casillas pushed a low Sergio Aguero cross out towards the Uruguayan. However, Forlan's follow-up shot was deflected for a corner, from which Atletico saw a header cleared off the line. Ujfalusi then headed over before former Real winger Reyes brought a brilliant one-handed diving save out of Casillas with a curling 20-yard effort. Atletico could not make the most of that purple patch, however, and they were lucky not to be 3-0 down just after half-time when Higuain hit the post. Ozil sent in a cross from the left and Higuain smashed a thunderous left-footed volley against the post. Forlan then did likewise on the hour with a similarly impressive volley, the former Manchester United man latching onto a half-cleared corner before thumping a shot against the base of Casillas' right hand post. Aguero then brought a good save out of Casillas but those scares were few and far between for Real, who had decent chances to extend their lead in the closing stages with Ronaldo, Sergio Ramos and Karim Benzema all going close to making it an even more convincing victory.

• published: 07 Nov 2010
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