Lionel Messi scored two penalties and a goal to help hand Barcelona a dramatic 4-3 El Clasico victory over a ten-man Real Madrid side at the Bernabeu Stadium.
The Galacticos fought their way back from a goal down to take the lead after a Karim Benzema brace, but couldn’t help but implode as they felt the wrath of the Argentine.
The Catalans needed a win in the crucial clash in order to gain ground on their fierce foes in the race for the La Liga title race, while a defeat would put an end to their defence.
The visitors took the lead as early as the seventh minute when Messi slid a pass through to Andres Iniesta. He the took an assured touch before smashing a left-footed strike into the top corner.
Di Maria then went on a sensational run down the left to the byline before teeing the ball up for his team-mate, who was then guilty of ballooning a strike over the bar form 10 yards.
Parity was restored by Madrid in the 20th minute when Angel Di Maria curled a lovely cross to the front post. Benzema was on hand to bullet a header into the far corner, leaving Victor Valdes only able to get the slightest of touches.
The Frenchman struck two minutes later to put his side in the lead for the first time in the match. Di Maria, got his second assist of the match when he crossed into the box and saw Benzema smash a volley into the corner.
Some pinball action inside the box followed just before the interval. Neymar eventually laid the ball off for Messi, who somehow squeezed a shot through the crowd into the bottom right corner to make it 2-2.
But few would have predicted what was to unfold at the restart as a flurry of penalties occurred on both ends of the field.
The first saw Cristiano Ronaldo brought down in the box and got up to dust himself off, before expertly converting the penalty into the bottom corner, but things soon went haywire for Carlo Ancelotti’s side.
Sergio Ramos was shown red for his foul in the box, and it was Messi step up and smash his first of two penalties into the right corner to put the game even for a third time.
Dani Alves then hit the post when he received the ball from 25 yards out and unleashed a thunderous strike at goal but the Brazilian’s attempt cannoned off the bottom of the post. Very unlucky!
Barcelona’s victory was snatched six minutes from full-time when Messi claimed his hat trick by whipping a fantastic penalty into the top right corner.
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