MADRID: Keeping Lionel Messi in check again in what could turn out to be his last La Liga ‘Clasico’, Real Madrid continued the impressive run which has put them at the heart of the title race.

Four days after beating Liverpool in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals, Real beat Barca 2-1 at home to stretch their winning run to six games in all competitions and go top of La Liga for the first time in three months.

“We have to enjoy what we’ve been doing. We got two very good results and it wasn’t easy,” Real coach Zinedine Zidane said. “Being in the lead won’t change anything for us. We have to keep working hard.”

The victory in pouring rain in the Spanish capital left Real provisionally tied on 66 points with Atletico Madrid. Barca, who had been unbeaten in 19 straight league games, stayed one point off the lead.

“We’re still in it,” said Barca coach Ronald Koeman. “We’ve lost a game against a team who is also fighting for the league but we have eight games left and we will fight to the end.”

The 33-year-old Messi, who reached seven straight Clasico’s without a goal, has his contract with Barca ending this season. The Argentina star expressed his desire to leave the Catalan club last year but had the request denied.

Karim Benzema put the champions in charge at a soggy Alfredo di Stefano stadium with a delightful backheel in the 14th minute while a deflected Toni Kroos free kick doubled their lead in the 28th.

Barca hit back on the hour mark through Oscar Mingueza and the defender almost found the equaliser later on,

while the Catalans had a huge penalty appeal waved away when Martin Braithwaite fell following a challenge by Ferland Mendy.

Real midfielder Casemiro was sent off in stoppage time for picking up two yellow cards in the space of a minute while Barca substitute Ilaix Moriba hit the crossbar in the fourth minute of added time.

The hosts survived the nail-biting finish to complete the double over Barca in a league season for the first time since 2008 and round off a sensational week after beating Liverpool 3-1 in a Champions League on Tuesday.

Barca looked to dominate possession but were powerless to control Real’s counterattacks and went behind when Federico Valverde hurdled a Jordi Alba tackle to shuttle down the pitch, feeding Lucas Vazquez whose low cross was turned in by Benzema’s sublime backheel.

Real caught Barca out on the break again when Vinicius Jr. raced on to a Luka Modric pass and was felled by Ronald Araujo. The free kick was in perfect range for Kroos, whose shot bounced off the back of Sergino Dest to wrong-foot Barca keeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

Real were inches away from scoring a third when Valverde again tore down Barca’s left-hand side and smacked the far post, Vazquez pouncing on the rebound but shooting straight at Ter Stegen.

Barca barely caused Real any trouble until the end of the first half, when Messi hit the far post straight from a corner. The Argentine had a better chance moments later from inside the area but could not beat Madrid’s Thibaut Courtois.

Koeman took decisive action at halftime, throwing on Antoine Griezmann for Dest and the French substitute helped pull Barca back into contention, playing a dummy which led to Mingueza scoring.

The torrential rain caused Messi to change his soaked shirt late in the game and the slippery conditions helped set up the frantic finish, but Real weathered the storm.

Juan Cala, who last weekend was accused of racially insulting Valencia defender Mouctar Diakhaby, played from the start in Cadiz’s 1-0 win at Getafe.

Cala denied any wrongdoing and La Liga said on Friday they had not found evidence to support Diakhabys accusation against the Cadiz player.

Athletic Bilbao were held 0-0 at home by second-to-last Alaves to extend their winless streak to five matches in all competitions. The winless run of last-placed Eibar reached 14 matches after a 1-0 home loss to eighth-placed Levante.

Published in Dawn, April 12th, 2021