No twists but ugly shouts at Madrid derby

This season's fourth episode of the Madrid derby followed the familiar Real-victory script already played out three times since last November - despite Sergio Agüero's pitch for a rewrite with an 86th-minute strike.

Taking the score to 1-2, the goal gave Real a scare and offered Atlético a sliver of hope in the closing moments at its Vicente Calderón; but there was to be no twist in this tale. The minutes ticked out, Real's title hopes remained alive and the home side was left waiting another season to try to change a plotline that has been running since June 1999.

All the pre-match talk was about whether Cristiano Ronaldo, who was risked in Wednesday's Champions League win over Lyon despite not being fully fit, would be left out of the lineup. But in the end it was Argentinean winger Ángel di María who was benched to make way for Lass Diarra. The Frenchman joined a defensive midfield trio alongside Xabi Alonso and Sami Khedira in a more compact 4-3-3 formation that coach José Mourinho hoped would give strength to his still-tired players. And it worked. Eleven minutes in, Khedira filtered the ball through to the in-form Karim Benzema, who held off Diego Godín to neatly flick over David de Gea and score his eighth goal in five games.

Mourinho: "The Calderón is a fantastic stadium but these insults are not good"

Rattled at first, Atlético Madrid gradually got going and began exerting pressure with Agüero, Godín and José Antonio Reyes all forcing saves from Iker Casillas, who always seems to be at his best in derbies. But on 32 minutes Marcelo picked up the ball just outside the box, skipped in from the left and pulled back for Mesut Özil to slot home with his left foot.

Tiring in the second half, Real concentrated on defending with Agüero - who saw one shot superbly palmed away by Casillas after being put through on goal - the only Atleti player to really trouble Mourinho's men all Saturday night. As momentum petered out and the game trudged towards its seemingly inevitable conclusion, Agüero's strike fired up the home crowd for a final five-minute flurry. But it was destined to be a mere consolation goal.

"Yes, I was scared they would tie with us in the final minutes," Mourinho said. "The physical and psychological difference between a team that had time to rest [Atlético] and one that didn't [Real] was clear to see. I'm just the coach and I was tired on the bench. The players were even more so. They lost intensity in the second half and we devoted ourselves to defending as best as possible."

The hostile home crowd hardly made their job easy. Black Brazilian defender Marcelo found himself the victim of racist chants of "You're a monkey" from a contingent of Atleti fans following a foul on Tomas Ujfalusi, while Ronaldo was also the target of harsh abuse. "I go on saying that the Calderón is a fantastic stadium to play football in, with an atmosphere that we would like to have in every stadium in the world... But these insults are not good," Mourinho said. "There needs to be respect for the players and the players' families."

The result means Real maintains the five-point gap between it and top-of-the table Barcelona, which earned a similar 2-1 victory over Madrid's third top-tier team, Getafe, at the Camp Nou earlier on Saturday. After Dani Alves had put the champion ahead after 16 minutes and Bojan Krkic made it two just after half time, Manu del Moral's sweet 87th-minute strike for the visitor also gave it a final-hour scare.

In Saturday's other game, Mallorca beat visiting Zaragoza 1-0 thanks to a 67th-minute goal from Canadian midfielder Jonathan de Guzmán. Just one behind eighth-place Atlético on 38 points, Mallorca can now feel confident of survival and look instead toward possible European qualification.

Other results: Valencia 0-1 Sevilla; Athletic 0-1 Villarreal; Racing 2-1 Sociedad; Hércules 0-4 Osasuna; Deportivo 0-1 Levante; Málaga 2-0 Espanyol; Sporting Gijón 1-0 Almería.