Cristiano Ronaldo bagged a share of the spoils for Real Madrid from the penalty spot late Saturday after Lionel Messi had netted a spot-kick of his own for a 1-1 draw which keeps Barcelona on course for the Spanish title.
Ronaldo’s effort denied Barca a win which would have all but ended the title race as the two rivals met in the first of four “Clasico” clashes inside three weeks which will decide the destination of this season’s silverware.
Messi and Ronaldo scored their 30th league goals of the season as Barcelona stayed on course for glory after their encounter at the Santiago Bernabeu which left the visitors, chasing a third successive league title, with an eight-point cushion over Real with six games left.
Messi opened the scoring with a 53rd-minute penalty that left Real down to ten men with centre-back Raul Albiol sent off for conceding the kick but Madrid levelled on 82 minutes through Ronaldo.
The draw halted Barcelona’s run of five straight wins over their rivals and ended coach Pep Guardiola’s 100 per cent record in the fixture.
“A draw at the Bernabeu is a good result and I am happy with how we played, although maybe we could have done better at 1-0,” said Guardiola.
“I don’t think we are league champions (yet) as we have to play against teams that are still fighting for their lives.”
Real boss Jose Mourinho had seen Barcelona thump his side 5-0 at Camp Nou and still waits for his first win in the fixture, but will have another shot on Wednesday when Madrid face Barcelona in the King’s Cup final.
After that the bitter rivals will also go head to head in the Champions League semis.
“It was very even with 11 players against 11,” said Mourinho afterwards.
“It was mission impossible to play with ten men for so long against a team that are, without doubt, the best in the world in possession.”
Mourinho opted for a more muscular midfield with defender Pepe playing alongside Sami Khedira, while the more creative Mesut Ozil dropped to the substitutes bench.
It was Mourinho’s 50th competitive game in charge of Real and his side were sitting deep and playing on the counter attack, which didn’t sit too well with the home fans. Four minutes after the interval Ronaldo won, and then took a free-kick from the edge of the penalty and thumped the left-hand post with Victor Valdes beaten.
It was a warning but Barcelona then won a penalty with Albiol pulling down Villa and receiving a red card to hit the hosts with a double punishment.
Messi lifted his penalty past Casillas to put Barca ahead and score against a Mourinho team for the first time in his career.
Xavi hit the crossbar on the hour mark for Barca and minutes later Pepe headed against the post as Real rallied.
Substitute Emmanuel Adebayor had a good chance for Real on 69 minutes but his poor control with his head let him down at the decisive moment.
With eight minutes to go Marcelo was felled by Brazilian compatriot Dani Alves in the box and Ronaldo made no mistake with the spot-kick smashing it into the top corner for his first Clasico goal.