You may bloody him and bruise him, but you will not stop him.

Two strikes from Lionel Messi, including a curling winner with the last kick of the game, hauled Barcelona back into the title race on a night where Real Madrid had, for six heady minutes, appeared to have secured the championship.

Madrid’s late equalizer, glanced home at the near post by James Rodriguez, would have been enough for 2-2 and the maintenance of a points buffer that was unlikely to ever disappear.

Few celebrated as wildly as Sergio Ramos, who was sent off for a two-footed lunge on Messi minutes earlier - the latest in a catalogue of assaults on the Argentine. Undeterred, Mateo Kovacic tried his own hack on Messi and was booked moments afterwards. The strategy was not to be abandoned.

But with James’ goal came the feeling that it was done. The title was sealed. Barring a complete collapse Real Madrid had won La Liga. Only a miracle could stop them.

That miracle was Lionel Messi, surviving 95 minutes’ worth of battering and beasting to curl home a left-footed strike in the dying seconds. It was a goal to settle any title race, but whether it proves to be such a strike will only become clear down the line - right after those bruises heal and the teeth are replaced.

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