La Liga Match Report: Real Madrid – FC Barcelona 3-4

Messi Breaks Record in El Clasico Thriller as Barça Blows Title Race Wide Open
In what was Tata Martino’s debut match at Santiago Bernabeu, Lionel Messi did his coach and club proud by scoring a hat-trick to bring his total goal tally in La Liga to 236 goals, placing him second on the all-time goalscorer table in La Liga – a position which was previously occupied by Hugo Sánchez with 234 goals.

It was a night full of brilliant displays from both teams, as Tata Martino’s men defeated Real Madrid 4-3 at Bernabeu to keep the title race open.
The game started on an intense note, with Real Madrid pressing aggressively. However, it was Barça that got the opener when Lionel Messi cleverly slipped the ball to Iniesta on the left and the midfielder drove it past Diego Lopez to put the visitors ahead.

Karim Benzema then missed a good opportunity to level the score twelve minutes into the game, before Messi and Neymar both missed chances to strengthen Barça’s lead.

Madrid concentrated on the left flank as they tried to outfox the Barça defense, with Di Maria and Benzema subsequently teaming up in spectacular fashion to put two goals past Victor Valdes and push Madrid ahead in the 20th and 25th minutes of the game.
Benzema nearly snatched a hat trick in the first half but Gerard Piqué cleared the ball off the line to deny the Frenchman his third goal.
With the end of the first half approaching, Messi scored to bring Barça level with the hosts.

The second half brought a few changes to the game, as Barça’s ball possession improved and Madrid played a more direct game. Ronaldo was awarded a penalty after Dani Alves appeared to have brought him down outside the box. It was the first of more penalties to come in the game.

With Madrid up by three goals to Barça’s two, things looked to shaping up quite nicely for the hosts until Sergio Ramos apparently brought Neymar down and received a red card in addition to a penalty being awarded against Madrid. Messi took the spot kick and tucked the ball away nicely to level the score once again.
Varane then came on for Benzema and Tata Martino responded by replacing Neymar with Pedro.

With Madrid sitting deep, Barça harried the hosts and almost went ahead in the 73rd minute with a rocket of a shot from Dani Alves which unfortunately hit the woodwork.

The clincher came in the 84th minute when Andres Iniesta was brought down in the area and Messi stepped up again to coolly slot the ball past the Madrid keeper and seal the victory for Barça.

It was a hard-won victory in a hotly contested match, but once again, Barça has proven its mettle against Real Madrid and the title race is far from over.