Gareth Bale's strike in El Clasico not enough to end Barcelona's unbeaten La Liga campaign

 

Gareth Bale's finish made it 2-2 at the Nou Camp CREDIT: AFP

Lionel Messi helped 10-man Barcelona remain undefeated in the Spanish league after drawing 2-2 with Real Madrid on Sunday in a testy El Clasico that saw Cristiano Ronaldo substituted at half-time with a leg injury.

Ronaldo hurt his lower right leg while canceling out Luis Suarez's opener in the 10th minute.

Gerard Pique stepped on his ankle as he unsuccessfully tried to stop the Madrid forward from scoring from close range. Ronaldo played on until half-time, when he was replaced by Marco Asensio.

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Madrid were dominating the match at Camp Nou and Barcelona right back Sergi Roberto was shown a direct red card in first-half injury time for swiping his hand at Marcelo's face as tempers flared between the rivals.

But that was when Messi came to the hosts' rescue, sending the ball past Keylor Navas in the 52nd to swing the match back in Barcelona's favor despite playing a man down.

Luis Suarez opens the scoring for Barcelona CREDIT: AP

Gareth Bale pulled Madrid level again in the 72nd minute after curling in a pass by Asensio. Messi had more chances to grab the late winner but was denied by Navas.

Barcelona remain unbeaten after 35 league matches this season and extended their record run to 42 Liga games without a loss. Their last league defeat came at Malaga in April 2017.

Barcelona have matches left against Villarreal, Levante and Real Sociedad to try to become the first team to go unbeaten in the competition since the 1930s, when it consisted of merely 10 teams.

Zinedine Zidane refused to put a time frame on Cristiano Ronaldo’s injury absence.

“I don’t know how long he’ll be out,” the manager said. “He said it wasn’t much, but we’ll see tomorrow.

“We’ll do some tests to see the extent of the damage done to his ankle. He was a little worried because it was a bit swollen, but he said that it’s nothing serious.”

9:42pm

FULL-TIME: BARCELONA 2-2 REAL MADRID

Another corner! Ramos however commits a foul, and Barcelona's unbeaten record remains intact! Plenty of spice in this one as expected, Sergi Roberto's red card before the break leaving Barcelona down to 10 men for the second half.

Fine finish by Gareth Bale brought Real back into the contest for the second time at 2-2, with Barcelona's defence then holding firm.

90+4 mins

Paulinho loses possession - here come Real. Bale from range, deflected. The visitors will have a corner.

90+3 mins

Barcelona unsure whether to thump a free-kick into the box or go to the corner and grind down the clock. They opt for the former but Real clear. Barcelona seconds away from maintaining this unbeaten run in the league.

90 mins

More last-ditch defending from Pique as Barca hang on. Four minutes of added time coming up. Suarez (slowly) heads off to be replaced by Alcacer.

86 mins

Crowd not happy as Real continue to attack despite Suarez being down with an injury after colliding with Ramos. Hard to tell if he's seriously hurt, wasn't a lot of contact, after Vazquez puts the ball out.

84 mins

Final change for Real, Kovacic on for Kroos. It's also his 24th birthday, so naturally we despise him for being so young.

80 mins

Real on top, pinning Barcelona back. The hosts' unbeaten record hanging on by a thread here. Modric shoots well over the bar.

77 mins

Bale and then Marcelo head into the book, the latter for complaining to the official. Bale's arguably lucky to still be out there.

Marcelo denied a penalty a few minutes earlier after a collision with Jordi Alba, which looked like a penalty on the replay.

GOOOOAAALLL BALE! BARCELONA 2-2 REAL MADRID

Stunning finish by Bale! Wraps his foot around it and Ter Stegen never had a prayer, buried in the top left corner. We're level again!

62 mins

Messi lining up a free-kick, in range of the goal and a recovered Navas. 24 metres out... into that seven-man wall. Real clear.