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Real Madrid 3 - Barcelona 1: Ronaldo breaks new ground as Los Blancos close gap at top
FORMER Manchester United striker Cristiano Ronaldo took the plaudits as Real Madrid swept past Barcelona at the Bernabeu.
Ronaldo was on the scoresheet once again as Los Blancos ran out comfortable winners.
All eyes were on Luis Suarez and how the former Liverpool striker would fare on his competitive debut for the Catalan giants.
And he made an almost immediate impact when Barcelona took the lead with the game just three minutes old.
Suarez played a superb crossfield ball to Neymar, who controlled the ball with his chest before curling his shot past Iker Casillas.
Real however grew into the game and were back on level terms 10 minutes before the interval when Ronaldo slotted home a penalty after Gerard Pique blocked Marcelo's cross with his arm. It was the 11th straight game he had scored in for the European champions.
Although James Rodriguez missed a very presentable opportunity on the stroke of half time, Real went ahead in the 50th minute after Pepe powered a header past Claudio Bravo.
And Real put real daylight between themselves and Barca on the hour mark when Ronaldo picked out Karim Benzema and he did the rest by drilling a shot low into the corner of the net.
Real have closed the gap on Barcelona at the top of the table to one point.
And before hosting Liverpool in the Champions League, they could overtake Barcelona as they have winnable fixtures against Cornella and Granada.