A dramatic Clasico ended in disappointment for Barcelona as Real Madrid moved top of La Liga with a 2-1 win.Rewind a few days and Ronald Koeman was being hailed in some quarters for turning his side's season around. However, the Blaugrana's title hopes suffered a huge dent on Saturday night. Oscar Mingueza's reply wasn't enough to earn Barcelona a point, with Karim Benzema and Toni Kroos having put Los Blancos 2-0 up. It might have been different had Koeman's side been awarded a penalty when Ferland Mendy challenged Martin Brathwaite in the box.Jesus Gil Manzano was unconvinced and refused to give a spot-kick. It prompted a furious reaction from Gerard Pique at full-time, with Koeman also making his way onto the pitch to confront the referee. The Dutchman had barely calmed down by the time he gave his interview.

"In the 1st half we weren't good. In the 2nd we improved," he said, via The Mirror. "I just ask refs to accept decisions. It was a penalty... It was really clear.

"But we have to accept it and shut up.

"It was really clear. Really clear."

Koeman then asked the interviewer: "You saw it, was it a penalty?"

The journalist wouldn't say it was, prompting the former Everton and Southampton boss to walk off. 

He later hit out at VAR again (h/t BBC Sport)

"We need to be better when making key decisions. They're decisions that can cost us the game and in the end they did," he said. 

"I think we should have got a clear penalty towards the end, and I don't know why it wasn't reviewed by VAR."

Barcelona had dominated possession and had more attempts and shots on target. 

By the only metric that really matters, though, they were undone by Real and now face an uphill struggle to win La Liga.