Lionel Messi was the Man of the Match as Barcelona thrashed Real Madrid 3-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday.

Zinedine Zidane's champions now lie 14 points behind their Catalan rivals and their hopes of retaining the La Liga title are truly hanging by a thread.

"The game would have been different if we'd scored in the first half. We didn't, and that's football," Zidane told reporters.

"We didn't even play that badly, which is why this hurts so much.

“I can't be happy with how we lost but I still support my players, what they've done until now is brilliant. But today we feel devastated."

Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo recently beat Messi to the Ballon d'Or to tie level with the 30-year-old on five awards.

"I've never seen anyone better than me," Ronaldo told France Football after winning the Ballon d'Or. "I have always thought that. No footballer can do the things I can.

"There’s no player more complete than me. I play well with both feet, I’m quick, powerful, good with the head, I score goals, I make assists. There are guys who prefer Neymar or Messi. But I tell you: there’s no one more complete than me."

The Portuguese forward has endured a frustrating start to the 2017/18 campaign - and he was unable to affect El Clasico like his Argentine rival.

Messi scored from the penalty spot and produced an incredible assist for Aleix Vidal in stoppage time, after leaving Marcelo eating dirt.

The Brazilian full-back has suffered at the hands of Messi on numerous occasions since moving to Spain in 2007.

A clip showing eleven separate occasions in which the 29-year-old Marcelo has been made to look a fool by Messi has gone viral on Twitter.

"The GIF you need: Messi dancing past Marcelo over the years".

He shows no mercy!

Interestingly, Marcelo was recently asked who his toughest ever opponent was and chose to overlook Barcelona's greatest ever player.

"The most difficult to stop I think has been Neymar," said Marcelo at a press conference in September.

The short clip above suggests otherwise.