MADRID: Lionel Messi scored his 500th Barcelona goal with the last kick of the game to snatch a stunning 3-2 win at 10-man Real Madrid and blow the La Liga title race wide open on Sunday.

Messi had broken a three-year goalless drought against Real to cancel out Casemiro’s opener for Real in the first-half.

Ivan Rakitic’s stunning strike and a red card for Real captain Sergio Ramos for a two-footed lunge on Messi 13 minutes from time put Barca on course for victory before James Rodriguez appeared to have rescued a point for the hosts with an 86th-minute strike, firing home at the near post.

However, fittingly, Messi had the final say with a low left-foot shot from inside the area after a cross by Jordi Alba two minutes into stoppage time to lift Barca’s hopes of a third straight La Liga title.

“He is the best player for me in history and I have seen a lot of football,” said Barca boss Luis Enrique as he celebrated victory in his final Clasico in charge.

“In modern football when everyone is tactically and physically better he still makes the difference. The fact he has scored his 500th goal shows all of us as Barca fans are lucky to have him identified with the club.”

Victory takes Barca top of the table thanks to their better head-to-head record with both sides locked on 75 points, but Real have a game in hand.

“We are first now but Real have an extra game,” added Luis Enrique. “It will be tight down till the end. We got the result we came here for.

“This is a season that weighs [on us] like five. So many things have happened, good things, not so good things, things I’ve already forgotten.

“The 2-2 [goal] was a terrible blow but players were able to come back in the last breath — the happy ending that we all wanted at Barcelona.”

It was the second consecutive win by Barca at the Santiago Bernabeu, coming after a 4-0 rout last season that put Real in crisis and eventually led to the replacement of coach Rafa Benitez by Zinedine Zidane.

This year’s victory could keep Real from winning the league title for the first time since 2012.

“We can’t be happy,” Zidane said. “When you don’t put the game away, things like this can happen. At 2-2 we should have used our heads more. We are disappointed because we didn’t deserve to lose. Maybe after today the league will be more open. But we still depend on ourselves.”

The match was a thriller which will go down as one of the best Clasicos in history, with end-to-end action from the off.

Cristiano Ronaldo was furious when Samuel Umtiti tripped him in the box and referee Alejandro Jose Hernandez waved away his appeal, but Barca were complaining afterwards when Marcelo got away with an elbow on Messi which left the Argentine with a bloodied mouth.

The Argentine came in for harsh treatment throughout, with Casemiro lucky not to be sent off for multiple hacks on him after picking up an early booking for a foul.

The Brazilian opened the scoring for Real in the 28th minute, tapping home at the back post after Ramos had fired Marcelos cross against the post.

Five minutes later Barcelona were level and it was Messi who finished it, dancing away from Dani Carvajal and slotting the ball beyond Keylor Navas.

Gareth Bale’s return from injury was a short-lived one as he was replaced by Marco Asensio before half-time. The youngster set up Ronaldo in the second period but the Portugal international blasted over from close range.

Rakitic made him pay in the 73rd with a long-range strike that flew beyond Navas and into the top corner.

The match seemed to have swung decisively in Barca’s favour four minutes later when Ramos scythed down Messi to be shown the 22nd red card of his career.

Despite that, Real still found the strength to equalize with substitute Rodriguez, who redirected a cross by Marcelo only three minutes after he had entered the match to replace Karim Benzema.

There was still time for one huge twist in the title race, though, as Sergi Roberto’s lung-bursting run led a Barca counter-attack to feed Alba and his cross was smashed into the corner by Messi.

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2017