:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/45966676/GettyImages-467283958.0.jpg)
FC Barcelona v Real Madrid: Suárez magic wins the Clásico (2-1) | FC Barcelona
Sunday night’s Clásico was no disappointment. Both sides served up a veritable footballing feast, and although Real Madrid looked the better side for a large part of the first half, Barça found their A-game after the break and on the back of a fantastic goal from Luis Suárez, marched on to claim three points and take a giant’s step closer to the Liga title.
Luis Suárez was one of the heroes of Sunday night’s Clásico and speaking on the ‘El Marcador’ show on Barça TV after the game, he claimed that his winner against Real Madrid "was the most important goal I have scored since I came to FC Barcelona … It was especially meaningful because we were at home to the toughest opponent of them all."
Moments after Barça’s victory over Real Madrid at Camp Nou, Javier Mascherano tried to temper the enthusiasm of those who believe that the league is already won. "There’s a long way to go, especially considering that we also have the Champions League." He warned that "it would be a mistake to take our foot off the gas." For Mascherano, "It was a crazy match," especially in the first half. After the break, Barça "made some adjustments that really ended benefiting the team."
Luis Enrique has made his point perfectly clear. "This was a nice win tonight and something for the fans to enjoy" he said. "But although it was important, it was not decisive." Although it means moving four points clear of Real Madrid, the Barça manager insists that "we are where we wanted to be, but we can’t relax because we could drop points in any game".
One of the players who received most praise for his performance in the Clásico was Gerard Piqué. The Catalan centre back was in scintillating form on Sunday evening despite the fact that he was up against three great strikers in Benzema, Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo. In fact, in the official voting carried out via the Club’s official Twitter account, Piqué received most votes from the close on 10,000 fans who took part. The Barça number 3 claimed 44.9% of the votes, followed by Luis Suárez with 28.2%, Messi with 17.9% and then Mathieu with 8.9%.
Real Madrid players Gareth Bale and Jesé Rodríguez were reportedly attacked by their own fans outside the club’s training base, following the 2-1 clásico defeat to Barcelona. After the team arrived back in Madrid on Sunday night, two fans repeatedly struck the cars of the two wingers after they refused to stop their vehicles to speak to the supporters outside the Valdebebas training complex, according to images captured by Spanish television channel Cuatro.
Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu and his predecessor Sandro Rosell could face prison time for alleged tax evasion. In a statement released on Monday, Spain's prosecutor has called for jail terms of more than two years for Bartomeu and over seven years for Rosell for the tax fraud case, which includes the signing of Neymar.
So it's a night of glory and satisfaction for the Liga leaders. Barcelona earned a 2-1 Clasico win over Real Madrid and extended their lead atop the Liga table to four points. But they have a problem; whether it's temporary or whether it allows Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti to overtake them remains to be seen. Despite the truth that Madrid could easily have been significantly ahead by the break (I think it's remarkable that Cristiano Ronaldo was called offside for Gareth Bale's otherwise legitimate goal), Barcelona were running things long before the end. They were breaking forward at will and splitting the lines of white in a manner that should have left them scoring two or three more.
A bullet header from Fernando Torres set up a depleted Atlético Madrid for a 2-0 victory over Getafe as the champions boosted their hopes of finishing third in La Liga. Torres powered home a Koke free-kick after three minutes to claim his first league goal since returning to his boyhood club in the January transfer window from Milan. Koke also played a part in the second goal before half-time when another free-kick was flicked on by Raúl Jiménez and Tiago nodded the ball in.
Sevilla piled on the misery for Villarreal with a Coke strike setting them on the way to a 2-0 victory in La Liga on Sunday following their midweek Europa League triumph. Having been knocked out of Europe by Sevilla last Thursday, Villarreal were seeking a measure of revenge but they lacked a cutting edge in attack.
Cordoba picked up three red cards as the Primera Division's bottom side slipped to a 3-1 defeat at Real Sociedad. Aleksandar Pantic was dismissed after just six minutes but the visitors still managed to take the lead as Florin Andone put them in front. Imanol Agirretxe's equaliser meant David Moyes' side were level at the break and they moved in front when Gonzalo Castro scored with just 15 minutes remaining.
