Real spoil Suarez debut

[sake]

Real Madrid overcame Neymar's early opening goal to see off arch rivals Barcelona 3-1 at the Bernabeu as Luis Suarez made his long-awaited debut for Barca.
A Cristiano Ronaldo penalty levelled things up before the break and then a header from Pepe and Karim Benzema's counterattack goal flattened Luis Enrique's side, who suffered their first defeat of the season and also conceded for the first time in 776 minutes.

In the build up to the first El Clasico of the season the focus was on Suarez and Lionel Messi, who was hoping to become the Primera Division's all-time top scorer, but it was Los Blancos that took centre stage to cut the deficit behind the Catalans to a single point.

Carlo Ancelotti made two changes to the team that had crushed Liverpool in mid-week, bringing in Dani Carvajal and Sergio Ramos for Alvaro Arbeloa and Raphael Varane, while Luis Enrique picked Jeremy Mathieu at left-back instead of Jordi Alba and chose Xavi over Ivan Rakitic in midfield.

Suarez made his competitive debut for Barca 18 hours after his four month ban for biting Italy Giorgio Chiellini during the World Cup came to an end.

Barcelona turned up on enemy territory top of the table and without having conceded a league goal and needed just three minutes to break the deadlock.

Xavi spread the play out to Suarez on the right hand side and the debutant picked out Neymar unmarked on the edge of the area, with the Brazilian cutting inside to the right to drive the ball into the far corner, leaving Iker Casillas and 75,000 Madrid fans stunned.

The hosts wasted no time in responding with a barrage of attacks. Benzema beat Claudio Bravo to a ball over the top but was unable to steer his shot on target.