Real Madrid 0 - Barcelona 3: Lionel Messi strike edges Catalans closer to La Liga title

BARCELONA took another huge step towards securing the La Liga title with a comfortable win over Real Madrid at the Bernabeu.

The first El Clasico delivered plenty of excitement as Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez found the net, while Dani Carvajal was sent off for Real Madrid.

Real made the brighter start and Cristiano Ronaldo thought he’d given the hosts an early lead when he headed past Marc-Andre ter Stegen inside two minutes but he was correctly ruled offside.

Ronaldo had another chance just minutes later but fluffed his lines in front of goal.

With Gareth Bale and Isco on the bench, Zinedine Zidane’s side lacked any attacking threat in the opening half an hour as both teams started tentatively.

Barcelona came close to scoring on the half hour mark but Keylor Navas produced a stunning save to deny Paulinho’s volley.

With no changes made at the break, Barcelona continued where they left off and finally opened the scoring on 54 minutes through Suarez.

Barca hit their rivals on the break as Sergi Roberto provided a neat pass to the Uruguayan ,who smashed it home.

Less than 10 minutes later and Real found themselves with a mountain to climb after Carvajal received his marching orders.

The defender blatantly stopped Paulinho’s effort with his hand inside the box and received a straight red card.

Messi then stepped up to convert the penalty and deal Real a huge blow to their chances of retaining their La Liga title.

Aleix Vidal scored in stoppage time to pile on further misery and put Barca 14 points clear of their rivals at the top of the table.