El-Clasico: Brings Back Barca Into The Title Race

It's safe to say the newest chapter of El Clasico won't be forgotten for a very long time. 

Arguably the world's greatest rivalry, Real Madrid vs. Barcelona didn't even come close to disappointing-at least if you're a neutral fan—at the Bernabeu on Sunday night. The visitors eventually escaped with an epic 4-3 victory on the back of a Lionel Messi hat-trick, climbing to within one point of both Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid atop the La Liga table.   

Barcelona took advantage of a Sergio Ramos red card, edging out their fierce rivals and closing the gap on them to one point, they also denied Madrid the opportunity of moving back into first at the expense of Atletico.

It was a game of supreme quality up until the point of Ramos’s dismissal, with the referee’s controversial decision to dismiss the Madrid skipper somewhat ruining what had been a fantastic spectacle.

Andres Iniesta opened the scoring after only seven minutes, taking advantage of Barca’s dominance in the opening stages.

Madrid’s response to going behind was almost instant and Real Madrid started to feed off the fantastic atmosphere at the Bernabeu.It was the first chance of many for Benzema and on twenty minutes he made amends for his earlier profligacy, crashing in a bullet header from  Di Maria's cross, blasting off the fingertips of Victor Valdes to level up the game.

Barca found a way back into the game just before half time, with Messi conjuring a bit of magic in the box to slide the ball past Diego Lopez, despite being surrounded by no less than five Madrid defenders.

When the half time whistle eventually came a few minutes later, it was unwelcome to the 400 million people who were gripped by one of the most fantastic 'Clasicos' in modern history.The second half brought more of the same from Real Madrid and Bale, Ronaldo, Di Maria and Benzema started to cause problems for Barcelona’s backline and Javier Mascherano in particular.

As Sergio Ramos pleaded with the referee for a red card for the Brazilian full back, believing Ronaldo was denied a clear goal scoring opportunity, replays showed that contact was outside of the box.

Nevertheless Ronaldo despatched his penalty with his typical clinical execution, tucking the ball away in the bottom left hand corner. 

With Madrid in the lead it was looking likely that the home side would take all three points , move back into first and extend their lead over Barcelona to seven points.

That is until the 63rd minute when Neymar broke through the Madrid backline only to go down under a challenge from Sergio Ramos when about to pull the trigger.

Replays showed that contact, if any, was light and Ramos was duly sent off for denying the Brazilian a clear goal scoring opportunity despite Madrid’s protestations that Marcelo was covering.

Messi stepped up and made no mistake from the spot, hammering the ball into the inside side netting and drawing Barca level.

Surviving the inevitable Barcelona was going to be a tough task for Madrid and sure enough in the 84th minute, Andres Iniesta drew a foul in the box from Xabi Alonso. Allowing Lionel Messi to complete his second hat-trick in as many games with a superb penalty.

It was a disappointing way to end the tie, with 10-man Real trying desperately to force their way back into the game but their numerical disadvantage was no match for Barca’s possession game.

Barca closed out the game in their usual pomp and gave their title bid a massive boost and sparked celebrations across the other side of Madrid, with Atletico remaining at the summit.

While many had written off Barca’s season and the future of Tata Martino, this result could prove to be a huge turning point in both the Catalans and Madrid’s seasons.