Barcelona leads Madrid by 14 points after 3
Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez left Madrid staring at a 14-point deficit after leading Barcelona to a 3-0 win at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday.
Suarez struck in the 54th minute and  Messi  added a penalty 10 minutes later after Madrid's Dani Carvajal received a direct red for stopping a goal-bound header by Paulinho.
 Messi  also set up substitute Aleix Vidal to round off the commanding win in stoppage time.
Despite the standings  Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde and  his  players aren't excluding a Madrid comeback.
 Barcelona's Lionel Messi  2nd right   celebrates after scoring  his  side's second goal during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Madrid and Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid  Spain  Saturday  Dec. 23  2017. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
The match was a contrast in tempos: Madrid wanted a frantic  up-and-down shootout  with Cristiano Ronaldo having space to roam  while Barcelona wanted to hold the ball and let  Messi  pick  his  moments.
Ronaldo beat  Messi  for the Ballon d'Or this month but the Portuguese failed to make a decisive impact on Saturday as  Messi  took  his  clasico record to 25 goals in 37 matches and  his  season-leading tally to 15 in the league.
 Zidane  left Spain midfielder Francisco "Isco" Alarcon on the bench in a surprise move. Instead   he  gave Mateo Kovacic  his  first league start of the season  hoping to repeat  his  success from the Spanish Super Cup where the Croatian was charged with man-marking Messi.
 Messi  seized the moment by playing Suarez clear. After Suarez hit the post  Carvajal blatantly used  his  arm to stop Paulinho's header from going in — a decision that earned  him  a direct red card and sent  Messi  to the penalty spot to fire  his  strike in.
Trying to spark a comeback   Zidane  sent on forwards Marco Asensio and Gareth Bale  who drew a save from Ter Stegen.
But it was  Messi  who  despite losing  his  right boot to Marcelo's tackle  reached the endline before finding Vidal to cap the win  as Barcelona won a third straight league visit at Madrid for the first time in their long rivalry.
[TGT] and Luis Suarez left Madrid staring at a 14-point deficit after leading Barcelona to a 3-0 win at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday.
Suarez struck in the 54th minute and  Messi  added a penalty 10 minutes later after Madrid's Dani Carvajal received a direct red for stopping a goal-bound header by Paulinho.
 Messi  also set up substitute Aleix Vidal to round off the commanding win in stoppage time.
Despite the standings  Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde and  his  players aren't excluding a Madrid comeback.
 Barcelona's [TGT]  2nd right   celebrates after scoring  his  side's second goal during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Madrid and Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid  Spain  Saturday  Dec. 23  2017. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
The match was a contrast in tempos: Madrid wanted a frantic  up-and-down shootout  with Cristiano Ronaldo having space to roam  while Barcelona wanted to hold the ball and let  Messi  pick  his  moments.
Ronaldo beat  Messi  for the Ballon d'Or this month but the Portuguese failed to make a decisive impact on Saturday as  Messi  took  his  clasico record to 25 goals in 37 matches and  his  season-leading tally to 15 in the league.
 Zidane  left Spain midfielder Francisco "Isco" Alarcon on the bench in a surprise move. Instead   he  gave Mateo Kovacic  his  first league start of the season  hoping to repeat  his  success from the Spanish Super Cup where the Croatian was charged with man-marking Messi.
 Messi  seized the moment by playing Suarez clear. After Suarez hit the post  Carvajal blatantly used  his  arm to stop Paulinho's header from going in — a decision that earned  him  a direct red card and sent  Messi  to the penalty spot to fire  his  strike in.
Trying to spark a comeback   Zidane  sent on forwards Marco Asensio and Gareth Bale  who drew a save from Ter Stegen.
But it was  Messi  who  despite losing  his  right boot to Marcelo's tackle  reached the endline before finding Vidal to cap the win  as Barcelona won a third straight league visit at Madrid for the first time in their long rivalry.