Twitter Reacts to Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi, Neymar vs. Real Madrid

Ever since Luis Suarez completed his big money move to Barcelona, the world has been waiting to see the enticing attacking triumvirate of the Uruguayan, Neymar and Lionel Messi in action together.

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Suarez made his first ever appearance in the iconic Blaugrana strip in one of the most prestigious games on the planet, and although he set up Neymar early on to put the Catalans in front, Los Blancos rallied to take a 3-1 win thanks to goals from Cristiano Ronaldo, Pepe and Karim Benzema.

Naturally, social media was a hive of hyperbole before, during and after such a high-profile contest, and much of the focus was centred around the performance of the Catalan’s stellar attacking threesome. 

Luis Enrique had confirmed ahead of the game that Suarez—playing his first game since being levied with a ban for his bite in the World Cup—would play some part in the fixture, per Jon Fisher of Goal.com and when the teams were revealed ahead of kick off, anticipation levels were heightened even further; Suarez was in the starting XI:

Alongside him was Messi, a player that has regularly been the difference between these two illustrious outfits in recent years. On the cusp of this one, the genial Argentine will have been well aware that a brace at the Bernabeu would have put him ahead of Telmo Zarra’s record mark of 251 domestic strikes, as noted here by SuperSport Blitz:

Neymar has been in scintillating form heading into this one, and given the unyielding focus on Suarez’s return and Messi’s potential to break Zarra’s record, he’s a player who was scarcely mentioned in the build-up to this one, that despite netting eight La Liga goals in just seven appearances before this game, per WhoScored.com.

But it didn't take long for the Brazilian maestro to put his mark on proceedings, as he opened the scoring for Barcelona very early on, assisted by Suarez. Here's the goal, courtesy of Bleacher Report UK:

It was the finish of a man who is in seriously impressive form, and Opta Jose provided us with an indication of just how clinical the Barcelona No. 11 has been so far this season:

The pass from Suarez was excellent too; Bleacher Report's Ryan Bailey was very impressed:

The Clasico is typically a volatile occasion, often turning even the most mild mannered of players towards anger. And although of the aforementioned trio it's Suarez that typically gets embroiled in those kinds of antics, both Messi and Neymar were surprisingly booked in the early stages. Sid Lowe of The Guardian was just as shocked:

As the game settled into a pattern, it was the men in the Blaugrana strips that were taking control, and the front three were causing mayhem amongst the Real Madrid back-line. Suarez was popping up all over the forward line, and he played another wonderful pass from the right flank to set up Messi, but he was uncharacteristically profligate, allowing Iker Casillas to make a save.

Such was the quality of the cross, Suarez's former teammate Jamie Carragher was already comparing him to a former Real Madrid man:

Despite Barcelona's early dominance, Real began to force their way into the back into the contest and they equalised via a Ronaldo penalty. At the break the score was 1-1 and despite some encouraging early play from the visitors there were signs that the home side were beginning to find their rhythm.

Luis Enrique's team failed to heed the warning though and Pepe put Los Blancos in front in the infancy of the second half. Barca needed a response from their formidable front three, but they were beginning to get a little frustrated, as noted here by ESPN's Dermot Corrigan:

They were still causing some problems though with Suarez showing little sign of rustiness with some clever movement and typically exemplary work rate. But some sustained pressure was undone by a moment of defensive ineptitude from Andres Iniesta and Dani Alves; Madrid flew forward, worked the space superbly and Benzema gave the hosts a 3-1 lead.

With Barcelona needing fresh legs, Enrique decided to withdraw Suarez in favour of the effervescent Pedro in the 69th minute. Spanish football writer Ben Hayward offered a fine summation of the Uruguayan's first appearance for the Catalan giants:

Neymar had been on the periphery of the game since opening the scoring and QPR's Joey Barton—a player that's never been a huge fan of the Brazilian, to say the very least—was questioning his input once again:

He wasn't the only one struggling to have a say though, as Madrid did a fine job of shutting out the Messi. The FootyHumour account was unwavering—and perhaps a little harsh—in their assessment of his second half display, as Madrid shut down the game at 3-1:

While this was an indisputably difficult day for Blaugrana supporters, there was some signs of positivity at the Bernabeu. The front three worked well for long spells, and the fluidity, tenacity and sheer quality of the trio of Suarez, Messi and Neymar always looked as though they could cause problems for Real.

As Suarez gets back to a level approaching match fitness and the players begin to acclimatise to the attributes of each other, they'll flourish magnificently as an attacking trio. Ultimately, it was rudimentary defensive errors that saw the Blagrauna falter here, not a lack of cohesion between the formidable offensive triumvirate.