Cristiano Ronaldo equalise just past the half-hour mark with his 42nd goal of the season in all competitions after the Catalans took a 20th-minute lead thanks to Jeremy Mathieu’s header.

the Uruguayan’s first-ever El Clasico goal, however, Luis Enrique’s side claimed what could turn out to be a vital victory thanks to Luis Suarez’s 57th-minute strike.

It was Real who created the first real opening of the evening, since surprisingly losing at Real Sociedad back in January, despite bossing the early exchanges – as one would expect from a team with 17 victories to their name in the previous 18 matches

after being picked out by a delicious ball from Karim Benzema, Ronaldo escaped the attentions of the Barcelona defence at the back post, that was only for the Portuguese forward’s effort to beat Claudio Bravo, but not the crossbar.

before coolly finishing low past Casillas for his 14th goal of the campaign, the forward still had much work to do to bring the ball out of the sky and then came the decisive moment of the match as Dani Alves found Suarez with a high ball over the Real back four.

when Benzema’s deflected shot from the edge of the area forced Bravo into a smart reaction save 12 minutes from time, Barcelona were not made to pay for their profligacy in front of goal though, with the closest Madrid coming to grabbing an undeserved equaliser coming.