Lionel Messi’s 51st and 52nd goals of the season put Barcelona well on course for the Champions League final, as the La Liga leaders beat great rivals Real Madrid 2-0 at the Bernabeu in Wednesday’s semi-final first leg.
In what was for the most part a disappointing and acrimonious affair, the hosts had Pepe sent off before Messi opened the scoring in the 76th minute. The indescribably-gifted Argentine then scored a sublime second three minutes from time to leave Jose Mourinho's men staring up an unenviable mountain in next Tuesday's fifth and final 'El Classico' of the season.
Mourinho opted to leave all his out-an-out strikers on the bench, with Cristiano Ronaldo leading an attack that also featured Angel Di Maria and Mesut Ozil. Barca were without Andres Iniesta, so Seydou Keita played in midfield, while injures also meant that Javier Mascherano started in the centre of defence and Carles Puyol at left back.
Xavi and Ronaldo gave the opposing goalkeepers a test each early on, but their efforts from range were easy for Iger Casillas and Victor Valdes respectively to cope with. David Villa then conjured up an opportunity for the visitors when cutting in from the left and beating Marcelo, but his zipped effort went just the wrong side of Casillas' right-hand post.
Barca were having much more of the ball, something that the respective starting line-ups always seemed to hint they would, but Real were heavy in numbers in their own half and Pep Guardiola's men were having to do a lot of work to eke out any sights on goal. But they did create a great chance some 25 minutes in.
Messi, who had not been overly prevalent to that point, was the brilliant architect with a sublime through-ball for Xavi. The midfielder was free in the area and shot to the near post, but his Spanish World Cup-winning team-mate Casillas denied him with a smart stop.
After three previous meetings of the team this season, familiarity threatened to bleed some of the creativity and excitement that both teams are capable of out of much of the game, but that same familiarity did its day job by continuing to breed contempt as things got tetchy the longer the first half went on. Real began to assert themselves a little more in the final 15 minutes of the half, but with that came some spicy and regrettable scenes.
Di Maria hit the floor on the left in the first of them, his decision to go down leading to some arguing between old Liverpool team-mates Mascherano of Barca and Xabi Alonso of Real. Ronaldo failed to beat the first man with his free-kick, only for an off-the-ball clash of Alvaro Arbeloa and Pedro to lead to more arguments all over the pitch.
The fuss died down for a bit thereafter, until just before the break when Real won another free on the left. Once again Ronaldo struck it into the first man, but the Portuguese star managed to get back onto the ball and dig out a thunderous 30-yard drive. Valdes parried it but only to the feet of Ozil, however the German ace - with most of the goal to aim for - hit it straight at the Barca goalkeeper. A late offside flag then eased his embarrassment.
The half-time whistle soon followed, but plenty of the players were not ready to go straight for a sit-down, a number of them clashing - without creating major chaos - as they headed for their respective dressing rooms. Real's Ramos and Arbeloa and Barca's Valdes and his understudy Jose Pinto were among the key protagonists and the latter was shown a red card, leaving Guardiola hoping nothing bad would happen to his remaining goalkeeper in the second half.
It would not as eventually the players went for their team talks before returning for more football, the second half beginning with Messi seeing an 18-yard half-chance blocked by Raul Albiol after Pedro's set-up from the right. Real's first effort of the half was more ambitious, if not ludicrous, as Alonso shot well over from inside his own half.
His team-mate Ramos then earned a booking for a daft body check on Messi, a yellow card that rules the Spain defender out of the second leg, and it would not be long before one of his team-mates joined him in that regard. In the meantime, Real showed a bit more ambition than in the first half with Ronaldo the obvious main threat, albeit without finding or forging a clean sight of goal.
His team was then put up against it when German referee Wolfgang Stark showed Pepe a straight red card for what he perceived as a high challenge on Daniel Alves. The Portuguese defender - playing in midfield on the night - did have his studs up, but manager Mourinho was left raging at the decision, and was eventually sent to the stand himself for his prolonged protestations.
The man-advantage had the away fans baying for their side to put Real to the sword and Villa went close to breaking the deadlock when collecting a Xavi pass and firing fiercely towards goal. Casillas stopped it and the airborne rebound fell for Pedro, who could only head it wide off balance.
Ibrahim Afellay replaced Pedro in the minutes that followed and the new man would make a telling contribution, but not before Ronaldo hoofed a long distance free-kick over the Barca wall and well over the Barca goal.
Then, with less than 15 minutes to play, came the breakthough. Affelay got the ball, broke down the right as Marcelo slipped and picked out the perfect cross for Messi. He, at last, evaded his markers before coming up with an expert toe-poke to take the ball beneath Casillas and into the net.
It looked ominous for Real now, a man down an away goal conceded and substitute Emmanuel Adebayor lucky not to join Pepe in the stands after shoving Mascherano in the face. Mourinho had managed to find some bars to sit beside in the stand, but they could not block out the sight of the crowning glory from Messi on the night.
With three minutes left, Messi took up possession some 35 yards out and proceded to ghost past five Real Madrid men as if they were not there. His weaving took him into the area where his final touch was a deft dink that gave Casillas no chance as the ball nestled in the right-hand corner of his net.
That was game over and one would have to go a long way to suggest it is not tie over as well.