After 31 (and 32, respectively) games played, three points were all that separated Real Madrid and Barcelona at the top of the table in La Liga.
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After another 90 scintillating, pulsating, thrilling, plot-twisting minutes of El Clasico on Sunday, there’s not a single thing to separate the two sides (other than Barca’s current tiebreaker on head-to-head meetings, and Madrid’s game in hand). This time, it was Lionel Messi who outshone Cristiano Ronaldo in the meeting of the world’s brightest stars, the former scoring twice and reaching the 500-goal mark in his Barcelona career (all competitions).
| Team | GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Home | Away | PTS |
| Barcelona | 33 | 23 | 6 | 4 | 94 | 32 | 62 | 12-3-1 | 11-3-3 | 75 |
| Real Madrid | 32 | 23 | 6 | 3 | 84 | 36 | 48 | 12-4-1 | 11-2-2 | 75 |
| Atlético Madrid | 33 | 20 | 8 | 5 | 60 | 24 | 36 | 12-2-2 | 8-6-3 | 68 |
Casemiro opened the scoring with a tap-in into an empty net in the 28th minute. Marcelo floated a ball to the back post, where Sergio Ramos made clean contact but came up with nothing but hit nothing but woodwork. Fortunately for Los Blancos, the ball ricocheted off the post, bounced across the face of goal and found the Brazilian midfielder all by his lonesome.
GOOOOAL!
— beIN SPORTS USA (@beINSPORTSUSA) April 23, 2017
@Casemiro opens the scoring as @mterstegen1 wipes egg from his face. #ElClasico pic.twitter.com/wkA4zYRkrq
The lead was short-lived, though, as a bloodied Messi scored yet another of his patented Messi goals just five minutes later. With two touches atop Madrid’s penalty area, he slalomed past and beat three defenders before applying the cool finish past Keylor Navas with that magical left foot of his.
BLOODY FANTASTIC!!!#Messi slaloms through the @realmadriden backline to level matters. #ElClasico pic.twitter.com/Y4eDOSOZaW
— beIN SPORTS USA (@beINSPORTSUSA) April 23, 2017
Following the halftime break, the balance of play tipped in Barca’s favor. Gerard Pique and Luis Suarez went oh so close to putting the visitors ahead either side of the hour mark, but Navas produced a pair of stunning saves that’ll (perhaps) go a long way toward silencing his increasingly vocal critics.
WHAT. A. SAVE.
— beIN SPORTS USA (@beINSPORTSUSA) April 23, 2017
@NavasKeylor claws away a @3gerardpique bullet header to keep things level. #ElClasico pic.twitter.com/0zrx9F8WMX
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There was absolutely nothing the Costa Rican no. 1 could do about Rakitic’s 73rd-minute strike, though. Cutting inside onto his left foot, the Croatian caressed and curled the ball toward the far post, where it made a hard right turn at the last possible second and nestled itself into the
IVAN THE GREAT!!!
— beIN SPORTS USA (@beINSPORTSUSA) April 23, 2017
@ivanrakitic cuts onto his left and launches a net-seeking missile past @NavasKeylor' reach! #ElClasico pic.twitter.com/EF5oSr8j7w
Already up a goal, the game appeared to swing totally in Barca’s favor just four minutes later. Sergio Ramos, the most Sergio Ramos player to ever Sergio Ramos, went lunging in, with two sets of studs exposed, on Messi. He was rightly shown a straight red card.
Another pair of plot twists were still to come, though, as James Rodriguez got on the end of Marcelo’s cross and slammed the first-time finish past Marc Andre ter Stegen with four minutes of regular time remaining.
GOOOOAAAAALLLLL!!!
— beIN SPORTS USA (@beINSPORTSUSA) April 23, 2017
Fresh off the bench and straight on the scoresheet. @jamesdrodriguez makes it 2-2! #ElClasico pic.twitter.com/QurKx6LfKZ
Then, with all of 13 seconds remaining in stoppage time, that man — the undisputed best player in the world and the greatest of all time — broke Madridista hearts once again. Sergi Roberto started the sequence all the way back in midfield, and Jordi Alba supplied the cross to the top of the box, and Messi drove that same left foot through the ball to beat Navas for the last-kick winner. The shirt-off-held-aloft celebration was simply salt in the wound.
Hay Liga!#Messi racks up his 500th career goal. Oh, and it just so happens to settle the best #ElClasico in a long time! pic.twitter.com/ZvF5mxrCG0
— beIN SPORTS USA (@beINSPORTSUSA) April 23, 2017