Suarez strike lifts Barcelona to El Clasico win over Real Madrid

Luis Suarez's stunning second-half strike fired Barcelona to a 2-1 win over Real Madrid to move four points clear of its eternal rival at the top of La Liga.

Barcelona La Liga Luis Suarez Real Madrid

Luis Suarez celebrates after netting what proved to be Barcelona’s winner (AAP) Source: AP

The Uruguay ace brought down Dani Alves's long ball to produce a sweet finish past Iker Casillas on 55 minutes, restoring Barca's lead after Cristiano Ronaldo had cancelled out Jeremy Mathieu's opener in the first half.
Although Madrid was on top for most of the opening 45 minutes, the second half belonged to the Catalan side, with Neymar, Lionel Messi and Suarez all missing chances to stretch the lead late on.

Madrid now has 10 matches to recover its four-point deficit with Luis Enrique's side at the top, but it has a superior head-to-head record as it beat Barca 3-1 at the Bernabeu earlier in the season.
The Catalan side went into this game on a run of 18 wins from its last 19 games and fresh from knocking out Manchester City to reach the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League, but it was the visitor which had the first clear attempt on goal.

Karim Benzema advanced into the area and held the ball up well before chipping towards Ronaldo at the far post, but the Portugal star could only hit the crossbar from a couple of yards out.

Then Barca came back down the other end. Alves combined with Messi down the right and the play was switched to Neymar on the left, but the Brazil striker headed his team-mate's cross wide of the near post.

The opening goal arrived on 18 minutes, and from the most unlikely of sources. Messi swung a free-kick in from the left after Pepe's foul on Suarez and Mathieu emerged from the sea of bodies to head past Casillas and into the bottom corner, scoring his first league goal since his move from Valencia last northern summer.

Barca should have doubled the lead on the half-hour mark, with Suarez crossing to Neymar from the right but Neymar could only shoot straight into Casillas's hands from a few yards out. The Spain captain distributed the ball well and Madrid equalised immediately, with Benzema back-heeling Luka Modric's throughball across to Ronaldo, and he slipped the ball under Claudio Bravo to silence the Nou Camp.

The goal galvanised Madrid and it went on to control the remainder of the half. Gareth Bale thought he had put his side ahead when he nodded in Ronaldo's flicked header, but Ronaldo was ruled offside.

Bale then missed a clear chance to score a legitimate goal when the ball skidded to him inside the area, but he skewed his shot wide of the far post. Moments before, Ronaldo's stinging effort from outside the area was tipped over by Bravo.

Barca did well to make it to the break on level terms and could have conceded again early in the second period as Benzema produced another sublime piece of skill in the area to turn his marker but his shot was parried by Bravo.

The Catalan side reclaimed the lead 10 minutes into the second half, although the goal came out of nothing.

Alves brought the ball out from defence to the halfway line and launched a long ball up field, which Suarez controlled expertly and then arrowed into the far bottom corner, scoring his first goal against Real Madrid and his 14th in all competitions for Barca.
Neymar could have put the game to bed when he went on a thrilling 50-yard run forward but with Suarez free to his right he opted to shoot over the bar.

Neymar tormented Madrid's defence again moments later but again failed to hit the target, while Messi went within inches after a sublime run.

Messi was denied by Casillas late on but the home fans were still enjoying watching their side rip Madrid apart, and Barcelona seemed assured of the victory long before the final whistle sounded.

In the fight for Champions League places, Sevilla kept the pressure on Atletico Madrid with a 2-0 win at Villarreal, Marcelino Garcia Toral's third defeat to his former employer in 11 days.

After claiming a 5-2 aggregate win over Villarreal in the UEFA Europa League last week, Sevilla coach Unai Emery declared that he had figured out exactly how to play its fellow high-flyer and that was evident yet again.

The home side dictated much of the match and struck the woodwork through Moi Gomez, but a focused Sevilla display spawned second-half goals from Coke and Vitolo, who on Friday received his first Spain call-up, secured a smash-and-grab victory.

The result leaves Sevilla on 55 points, its highest ever tally after 28 matches and six clear of Villarreal, which remains sixth.

David Moyes's Real Sociedad claimed its fourth win in five in a 3-1 triumph over rock-bottom Cordoba, which saw Aleksandar Pantic, Inigo Lopez and Daniel Pinillos all sent off, while the day's early kick-off saw Espanyol leave Deportivo La Coruna with a goalless draw.


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5 min read
Published 23 March 2015 9:14am
Source: PA Sport

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