With half an hour to go in the clásico here, Leo Messi ran on for Barcelona, eight weeks after tearing the ligament in his knee, but this was no rescue mission. Instead, he came to take part in a destruction that had largely been carried out in his absence. It was already 3-0 to Barcelona, with goals from Luis Suárez, Neymar and Andrés Iniesta; soon after, he helped create a fourth for Suárez, leaving the home crowd whistling their team and protesting against the president.


Once the game had begun, virtually the only applause of the night came for Isco when he was sent off six minutes from the end for a wild hack at Neymar. At least someone had done something, the supporters seemed to be saying; at least the sense of impotence had hurt someone. Others had been simply indolent; Barcelona had been inspired. This victory took Barcelona six points clear of Real Madrid, after 12 weeks of the season, but the real gap between them appeared much, much bigger than that.