Suarez scores hat-trick as 5-star Barcelona thrash limp Real Madrid

Barcelona piled further misery on arch-rivals Real Madrid and their manager Julen Lopetegui, as Luis Suarez's hat-trick headlined a 5-1 victory in El Clasico at Camp Nou.

Without Lionel Messi for the second game since the Argentine's arm injury, La Blaugrana scored twice before halftime through Philippe Coutinho and Suarez's VAR-awarded penalty to take control of proceedings.

Real started the second half well and Marcelo scored his third goal in a week, halving the deficit and injecting hope into the visitors, but that proved a temporary reprieve.

Barcelona took full advantage on the counterattack as Real pressed desperately. Suarez headed home brilliantly and then capitalized on a late defensive error to complete his treble, before Arturo Vidal headed home to seal a rampant victory for Ernesto Valverde's side in the first Clasico since 2007 to feature neither Messi nor Cristiano Ronaldo.

It's more desperately bad news for Lopetegui, for whom the burden sits ever heavier. Even without Messi, Real were thoroughly outplayed by their nemeses and suffered the heaviest Clasico defeat by either side in three years. Marcelo's forced exit with what looked to be a hamstring strain only compounded the misery.

For the hosts, Suarez continued to step up in Messi's absence. He converted his penalty with aplomb, generated an almost impossible amount of power on his header from a clipped cross, and raced clear to dink the ball over Thibaut Courtois to take home the match ball. The Uruguayan now has nine goals in nine La Liga Clasico appearances.

While the win vaulted Barcelona back to the La Liga summit, Real are now as low as ninth, some seven points off their rivals' pace. Rarely have the Spanish giants been mired in such gloom, and this result was another low point as they were blown away by their old enemy.