Barcelona beat Real Madrid 2-0 to take a three-point lead atop the Spanish league on Saturday following a record fourth straight win over its closest rival.
Lionel Messi, coming off a four-goal performance in the Champions League, put the defending champions ahead after 33 minutes by sending a shot past goalkeeper Iker Casillas for his 40th goal of the season.
Xavi Hernandez, who set up Messi for the opener, turned provider again in the 56th as he put Pedro Rodriguez free on Casillas to curl a left-footed shot past the Spain goalkeeper.
Barcelona won consecutive games at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium for the first time in its history to take control of the title race with seven games to play.
“The fact is that we came to the leader’s stadium and won,” said coach Pep Guardiola, who has led Barcelona to the four straight wins. “We won a very serious game, with a lot of calm.”
Barcelona has 80 points and holds the head-to-head differential should the two teams finish the season tied on points. It won 1-0 at the Camp Nou in December.
Messi picked himself up from a tackle to gather possession and feed Xavi, who floated a pass right back to him as he burst into the area. Messi controlled with his chest to move across and use his right foot to send the ball between Casillas and defender Raul Albiol to score.
Messi, who put on a sublime scoring display against Arsenal in midweek to lead Barcelona to the Champions League semifinals, leads the league with 27 goals.
Pedro doubled the lead with a well-timed run that came moments after Cristiano Ronaldo tested Victor Valdes for the first time. World player of the year Messi again got the better of his Portuguese counterpart in a matchup of two of the world’s best players.
“We tried to keep him as isolated as possible,” said Guardiola after Ronaldo failed to score against the Catalans in his fifth meeting.
Ronaldo failed to penetrate from the left wing throughout and Madrid never looked capable of coming back after Barcelona ‘keeper Victor Valdes saved Rafael Van der Vaart’s 57th-minute chance.
Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola tinkered with his formation, fielding a peculiar lineup for the second straight year, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic missing to injury. The biggest surprise was Daniel Alves being moved up into attack from his usual right back role, which relegated Andres Iniesta to the substitute’s bench.
Madrid coach Manuel Pellegrini, who was without playmaker Kaka, left Karim Benzema on the bench again, with Gonzalo Higuain and Ronaldo leading the attack. Pellegrini’s future could be uncertain since Madrid spent over ?250 million (then $363 million) last summer on new players following the record 6-2 defeat to the Catalans here last year.
Both teams took time to settle with Barcelona calling for a penalty in the 12th when Messi was swept to the ground by Albiol as he cut back following a quick burst along the goal line.
Xabi Alonso had Madrid’s first shot in the 23rd, while Ronaldo beat Gerard Pique in a foot race minutes later, but his poor touch allowed the Catalans to smother the chance.
Messi’s goal swayed the momentum Barcelona’s way, although Higuain would miss two glaring chances before halftime.
Higuain, who trails Messi by three goals in the scoring race, headed a deflected ball over in the 38th and then volleyed high three minutes later with only Valdes to beat—again.
Guardiola dropped Alves into the defense to start the second, with Xavi playing further up in support of Messi.
Ronaldo combined with Marcelo to give the latter a shot on goal in the 51st with Valdes catching. Ronaldo tried to get a low roller past Valdes soon after without success.
Madrid pressed to get back into the game with Jose Maria “ Guti” Gutierrez coming on right after Pedro’s goal to put Van der Vaart clear on Valdes, who got a leg out to stop the midfielder.
Valdes cut off the angle in the 69th to save Ronaldo’s low shot before Messi nearly had a second in the 73rd but Casillas saved. Casillas got a quick hand out in the 78th to stop Messi—fed free into the area by Xavi—again to keep the scoreline down.
Iniesta and Raul Gonzalez would make appearances in the second half, while Benzema replaced Higuain to little effect as he handled a header chance in the 86th.
Madrid failed to win in the Spanish capital for the first time in 16 league matches this season.
Earlier, Sevilla rallied behind two second-half goals to win 2-1 at Malaga, and Villarreal beat Sporting Gijon 1-0 as the two clubs kept up their pursuits of a Champions League place.
Also, Getafe beat Xerez 1-0 and Javier Clemente’s first game in charge of Valladolid ended with a 0-0 draw at Tenerife.