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"We played a very complete game in every sense, when it came to holding the ball or to look for an advantage up front," Iniesta said. "We gave them few chances and didn't lose the ball much, something that can generate problems for us. We have been effective and played a very good match here."
Real Madrid played the final minutes with 10 men as Francisco Alarcon "Isco" was sent off after a hard foul on Neymar in the 85th. "It hurts a lot to lose this way, especially to Barcelona," Benitez said. "We made too many mistakes and when you play against a very good team like Barcelona you end up paying for them. The only thing we can do now is continue to work hard and see how we can improve for the next match. It's a long tournament and we have to try to recover these six points."
It was the second consecutive loss for Real Madrid after an unbeaten start to its season. There were unprecedented security measures in place after the attacks in Paris last week, with nearly 3,000 policemen and private security officers working to maintain public safety at the 81,000-capacity stadium. There was a minute of silence in honor of the victims in Paris, and a large French flag was displayed across some of the lower fan sections as the players lined up at midfield before kickoff.
Barcelona reached 30 points from 12 matches, while Madrid remained with 24 points. Madrid needed to win to pull even with its rival in points and return to the top of the standings on goal difference.
Third-place Atletico Madrid, which plays at Real Betis on Sunday, is one point behind Real Madrid and seven behind Barcelona. Barcelona was in control during most of the game and never gave Madrid many chances to score. Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale did not have any impact on the game.
Suarez and Neymar, meanwhile, continued to improve on their incredible scoring streak — the South American duo has scored 23 of the team's 27 goals since Messi got injured. It was Suarez's seventh and eighth goals in the last five games, and Neymar's sixth in the last four games. Neymar leads the league with 12 goals, one more than Suarez.
Messi recovered from a left knee injury but started the clasico on the bench because he was not yet 100 percent fit. The Argentine playmaker had missed the last nine Barcelona games. Suarez opened the scoring in the 11th after receiving a perfect pass by Sergi Roberto behind the defenders. He used the outside of his right foot to quickly fire a firm low shot into the far corner, giving no chance to Madrid goalkeeper Keylor Navas.
Neymar increased the lead from close range in the 39th after a through ball by Iniesta. The Brazilian controlled the ball inside the area and sent it into the net with a low left-footed shot underneath Navas, who touched the ball but couldn't completely block the shot. Replays showed that Neymar appeared to be slightly offside when he received Iniesta's pass.
Iniesta scored the third with a powerful strike into the top of the net after receiving a back-heel pass from Neymar just inside the box in the 53rd, and Suarez closed the scoring from in front of the goal after being set up by Jordi Alba in the 74th.
Madrid pressed in the second half and had good early chances with Marcelo and James Rodriguez. Barcelona goalkeeper Claudio Bravo had to make a great stop on Rodriguez's low shot from outside the area.
Bravo also came up big in some of Ronaldo's limited chances to score, blocking the striker's shot from just in front of the net in the 67th and deflecting his close-range header in the 90th. Barcelona coach Luis Enrique had the return of Ivan Rakitic, who had been nursing a muscle problem, but he lost defender Javier Mascherano less than 30 minutes into the match because of another injury.
Associated Press writer Harold Heckle contributed to this report.
Tales Azzoni on Twitter: http://twitter.com/tazzoni
Tales Azzoni on Twitter: http://twitter.com/tazzoni
