Real Madrid hammer Barcelona 3-1 in Spanish Super Cup

Madrid, August 14: Cristiano Ronaldo scored and was then sent off as Real Madrid beat Barcelona 3-1 in the Spanish Super Cup first leg.

Gerard Pique slid Marcelo's cross into his own net before Lionel Messi levelled with a penalty.

Ronaldo, who was a substitute, restored Real's lead when he ran from halfway before smashing an effort home. He was booked for taking off his shirt to celebrate and shown a second yellow shortly after for a dive - before Marco Asensio scored Real's excellent third.

Ronaldo felt he should have had a penalty when he went down under pressure from Samuel Umtiti, and appeared to shove the referee in the back after he was shown the red card.

Having broken up their famed 'MSN' strike-force through the summer-sale of Neymar to Paris St-Germain for £200m, Barcelona started Gerard Deulofeu in attack alongside Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez.

The need for attacking reinforcements at the Nou Camp is obvious. Messi and Suarez were lively and combined for the penalty - the Uruguayan winning it, when he tumbled easily under a challenge from Real keeper Keylor Navas, with the Argentine converting.