Enrique hails 'glorious' Clasico victory

Luis Enrique praised his Barcelona team for a "memorable" win over "eternal rivals" Real Madrid, as El Clasico ended in a one-sided thrashing. Barca won 4-0 in the Spanish capital, making it a fourth success over Madrid in five encounters in La Primera. 

Neymar celebrates after scoring the second goal for Barcelona on Saturday Reuters/Juan Medina

Luis Suarez scored twice and there was a goal apiece at the Santiago Bernabeu for Andres Iniesta and Neymar.

Lionel Messi did not feature until 10 minutes after the break, following his return from a knee injury, by which point Barcelona had a 3-0 lead.

The drubbing was Barca's biggest victory away to Real Madrid since 2009 and doubles their lead at the top of the league to six points after 12 matches.

“A glorious and memorable victory over our eternal rivals, who chase the same trophies," said Barcelona coach Enrique. "It really feels good to have played so much better - we did what we set out to do."

He decided on Messi beginning on the bench during the week, he said.

"I wanted to see how he felt about it and in the end the decision was easy - Leo understood perfectly.”

Madrid boss Rafa Benitez would not take responsibility for losing his first Liga Clasico:

“I try to manage my group the best I can. In this case the players have enough quality to do better," he said. “In the end we are all responsible and we must look for a solution as a group and to give joy to the fans.

“We made mistakes and we paid against a team that has top quality. We lost the ball against the opposition. It’s important to recover as a group."