Luis Suarez paid back another huge chunk of his transfer fee at the Nou Camp with the goal that won the Clasico — and quite possibly the Spanish league title for Barcelona.
Running on to a long pass forward by Dani Alves, Suarez took the ball brilliantly in his stride and, with both Sergio Ramos and Pepe closing in, he found Iker Casillas’ far corner with well-struck shot.
'It's the most important goal I have scored for the club so far,' he said. 'And of course it means even more because of who it was against. I tried to make the most of the space I found between the defenders and to get the shot away as quickly as I could. Luckily it worked out.'
The win puts Barcelona four points clear with only 10 games left and after last year’s disappointment with Liverpool, Suarez could now be in line for a league winners’ medal in Spain.
But he added: 'There is still a long way to go and we know it will be difficult. We have to make the most of the advantage we now have. But we know we can't relax especially against a rival as strong as Madrid.'
Jubilant Barca coach Luis Enrique praised Suarez saying: ‘He finished the goal like very few players can. He is a striker who can score goals like this, but he is also technical enough to play the football we play and physical enough to compliment the other players in the side. We signed him for nights like this.’
The game looked to be slipping away from Barcelona after they were made to suffer in the first half. Luis Enrique admitted: ‘The goal calmed us down a lot in the second half. It’s a big a win against our eternal rival but we have a lot of difficult games to go before the league is won.
'The win means more because this is a very good Madrid side.’
Until Suarez struck the night had belonged to Cristiano Ronaldo, who responded to a week of global adulation for Lionel Messi by equalising in the first half to silence the Camp Nou after Jeremy Mathieu opened the scoring.
Ronaldo’s every touch was booed — even from his first run down the left inside 60 seconds.
It only took Messi 10 minutes to mark up his first nutmeg, sending the ball through Toni Kroos’ legs, but it was Real with a pumped-up Ronaldo who made much of the early running and he hit the bar from Karim Benzema’s cross.
At the other end, Pepe and Suarez clashed and Barcelona were awarded a free-kick. Messi took it and, powering in ahead of Ramos, Mathieu headed past Casillas for his first Barcelona goal.
The hosts should have doubled their lead but Neymar made a mess of a Suarez assist and they paid the price as Real Madrid scored with their next attack.
Luka Modric played the ball to Karim Benzema, the Frenchman’s flick found Ronaldo in space and he swept the ball past Claudio Bravo.
Suarez was booked for leaving his foot in on Pepe, who had already gone in late on the Uruguayan.
Barcelona were hanging on before half-time and Gareth Bale thought he had scored from Ronaldo’s flicked header — only for the goal to be disallowed because the Portuguese was offside.
Five minutes into the second half Benzema almost put Real ahead after a fine move but was somehow denied by Bravo.
Suarez had been quiet since his booking in the first half but, when Alves played him through with a brilliant first touch, he controlled the ball inside the area and rifled into the far corner.
There were 11 bookings on the night and Javier Mascherano and Ronaldo clattered into each other midway through the second half. But the game was more 'crash bang wallop' than containing any of the bad blood of previous meetings.
Suarez thrives in games this frenetic and in that sense it was no surprise his contribution was decisive. He may even have decided the title race.
Real Madrid coach Ancelotti said: ‘The league is more difficult now. We have to keep going and play as we did in the first half for 90 minutes. I don’t think we made any mistakes when you have Suarez against you then he can do that. He finds the space and when the right pass comes he can finish. Our heads are down but we still have a lot to play for.’
