Real Madrid, reduced to 10 and led the scoring for Barca, has managed to avoid a sixth successive defeat in the "clasicos" Saturday (1-1) but still eight points behind La Liga, six days of end.
Morally, Real, crushed at Camp Nou (5-0), has avoided the depression, preventing its biggest rival to win a third consecutive time in the Santiago-Bernabeu stadium.
Messi Barca will do as well as the Real of Di Stefano in the 60s, with six "clasicos" consecutive victory in La Liga.
But he remains undefeated this season against Real and comes under the best conditions before the three other "clasicos" program: Wednesday in the final of the Copa del Rey, April 27 and May 3 in the semi-finals (round-trip League) champions.
Barca's record against Real since the arrival of coach Josep Guardiola in 2008 is impressive: six games, five wins, one draw, 17 goals scored, three conceded.
Jose Mourinho, who had tamed Barça de Guardiola last season with Inter Milan, has three more opportunities to defeat the team "Blaugrana" with Real.
The stars of each team, Cristiano Ronaldo at Real and Barca in Messi, defeated their Indian sign on Saturday night.
Ronaldo, who had never scored against Barcelona, equalized on a penalty kick in the 82nd.As for Messi, who had never scored against a team of Mourinho, he opened the scoring, also from the penalty spot (53 ').
Messi remains top scorer in La Liga, with 30 goals, against 29 for Ronaldo.
Adriano saves on his line
Dampened by the heavy defeat at the Nou Camp to go phase, the toughest of his career, Mourinho opted for a highly defensive, with Pepe, center-aligned as a false front hinge midfielder Albiol-Carvalho.
A tactical move to master the elusive Messi. And it worked, until the turn of the game: the penalty and exclusion of Raul Albiol (51). But Pepe's tenure came at the expense of midfielder Mesut Özil.And for many years, Real has been unable to produce the game
In the first half, the show was not announced dazzling the rendezvous: a lot of mistakes, nervousness, balloons lost. And very few opportunities.
Messi has still been two: the 19th with a lob small intercepted by Iker Casillas and the 44th with a breakthrough followed by a shot from the left. But again, Casillas played a full role in pushing both hands.
And Cristiano Ronaldo has created the most dangerous time: after an initial header from a corner of Ramos, he forcefully took over the head. We were very close to the 1-0 but Adriano saved on his line (45th).
The match was completely packed second half.After two penalties, Real had several opportunities, including a match by Khedira (90th). Barca was the same in stoppage time, by Villa.
Prior to the summit of the Spanish League, Valencia had consolidated his third place by winning consistently at the last, Almeria (3-0).
Valencia, who finished digesting its elimination by eighth-finals of the Champions League (for Schalke 04), finished the season strong and will receive the Real Madrid the next day.
