El Clasico: Barcelona come alive in the second half to silence Real Madrid 3-0

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Madrid, December 23: Two goals in the second half by Barcelona handed the Catalans a 3-0 victory in El Clasico against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium on Saturday (December 23).

Luis Suarez opened the scoring in the 54th minute. Lionel Messi converted from the spot 10 minutes later and Aleix Vidal struck in dying minutes as Barca went nine points clear of Atletico Madrid on the La Liga table. Barcelona top the table with 45 points in 17 games. Real Madrid lie fourth with 31 points from 16 matches.

Contrary to the proceedings, Real Madrid dominated the first 45 minutes and even managed to breach the Barcelona defence on one occasion.

In the 3rd minute, Cristiano Ronaldo headed home after intercepting a header by Casemiro, but the goal was disallowed as he was offside.

Ronaldo, later in the 11th minute, mistimed his shot on goal after a fine cross by Marcelo from the left. Andres Iniesta then became the victim of a rash foul when he tried to intercept the second shot by Danny Carvajal.

In the 34th minute, Modric sent a ball over the top of the defence to Ronaldo on the right, whose cross to Benzema was blocked by Barcelona's Gerard Pique.

Moments earlier, Keylor Navas made a point-blank save to deny Paulinho.

Six minutes before half-time, Navas dove to his right to glove Paulinho's glancing header away for a corner off a cross from the left Lionel Messi.

The teams headed into the break goalless but Navas was called into action again in the 53rd minute, but he didn't have much to do as Luis Suarez's shot came right at him.

A minute later though, he couldn't stop Suarez from breaking the deadlock.

Rakitic made a run at the centre and played it out to Sergi Roberto at the left. Roberto wasted no time and squared it to Suarez at the centre, who fired a low shot to the bottom right corner.

In the 63rd minute, Real Madrid were reduced to 10 men after Danny Carvajal used his right arm to block a goal-bound header by Paulinho. From the resulting penalty, Messi doubled the lead for Barcelona, firing his spot-kick to the top right.

Coach Zinedine Zidane quickly took off Benzema and added defender Nacho for Real Madrid. With 20 minutes to go, Zidane threw in Gareth Bale and Asensio to add firepower for Real. Minutes after the double substitution, Real Madrid's calls for a handball and a penalty were turned down as Asensio's cross from the right appeared to have hit Sergi Roberto.

Barcelona goalkeeper Andre Ter Stegen blocked a shot by Gareth Bale in the 78th minute to add to Real's frustration. Ter Stegen also blocked a powerful left-footer from Sergio Ramos from a close range.

Moments before the final whistle, Barcelona struck their third. Substitute Aleix Vidal fired goal-ward after a cross by Messi from the right touchline. The powerful strike went under Navas and rolled in agonisingly for Real.

RESULT

Real Madrid 0 lost to Barcelona 3 (Luis Suarez 54, Lionel Messi 64 pen, Aleix Vidal 90+3)