Barcelona have now opened a six point gap between themselves and Real Madrid.
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All the pre-match build-up concerned the return of Messi, although his long-awaited return was put on hold with Enrique keeping faith in Suarez and Neymar up front from the start.
“We wanted to attack and win back the ball high up the field but it didn’t come off”, he said. “It’s our eternal rival”.
Figo was one of the best players in the world, a Barcelona icon, when Real made him the first of their Galactico project – and the Barca fans never forgave their former hero. “I’m satisfied not just for the victory, but for the way we did it”.
“I don’t think Real Madrid gave up, we were a level above them and we outnumbered them in many areas of the game”.
That was only the second goal Real had conceded at home all season, but their usually strong defence simply had no answer to Barcelona’s attacking prowess. “Of course it hurts, it hurts a lot to lose like this”, Benitez told a news conference. We were the better side and the triumph is down to us.
Here are the five things we learned:1. “It’s a long tournament and we have to try to recover these six points”.
The game took place under the umbrella of an unprecedented security operation in the wake of last week’s Paris massacre and with fans having to pass through three different security checks. Yesterday’s victory at the Anoeta stadium in San Sebastian thanks to Agirretxe’s goal in the 73rd minute and Prieto’s effort four minutes later lifted the Basque club to 14th on 12 points from 12 matches.
It was a first home defeat in 23 league games for Real, but an early blow to their hopes of challenging Barcelona for the title this season.
“It was a complete game from us”. The goal was allowed even though Suarez appeared to be offside.
Benitez produced a minor surprise by naming Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo and a fit again Karim Benzema in his starting 11, while Luis Enrique decided not to risk Leo Messi, who began the game on the bench.
By the time the game ended, with Sergio Ramos dismissed late on for a nasty tackle on Messi, Mourinho looked thoroughly embarrassed. The Argentina captain, who has been out for almost two months with a knee injury, came on for Ivan Rakitic just before the hour and promptly sent Suarez clear to score the European champions’ fourth. The accuracy on both were ideal, right next the post where the goalkeeper had no chance. Iniesta, once more given the freedom of the final third, passed in to Neymar and, after the Brazilian back-heeled into his path, fired an unstoppable shot into the top corner. After Iniesta scored his goal to go up 3-0, Barca brought in Messi and he helped set up the second goal for Suarez.
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Once underway, Real actually started quite brightly, dominating possession in the opening seven or eight minutes without creating a clear cut chance.
