Barcelona FC 2 - 0 Real Madrid

Late goals from Samuel Eto'o and Lionel Messi gave Barcelona a dramatic win over bitter rivals Real Madrid in a tense derby encounter at the Nou Camp tonight.

Madrid - in their first league match under new coach Juande Ramos - frustrated the league leaders for long periods and looked set to snatch a point after Iker Casillas saved Samuel Eto'o's penalty with 20 minutes remaining.

But the Cameroon frontman finally gave the Catalans the lead with seven minutes remaining and Lionel Messi smashed home a second in stoppage time to move Pep Guardiola's side 12 points ahead of their fierce rivals after 15 rounds of the championship.

Thierry Henry and Lionel Messi both netted braces while Carles Puyol and Gerard Pique were also on the scoresheet as Pep Guardiola's treble-chasers inflicted a first league defeat on in-form Madrid since beating the reigning champions at the Nou Camp in December.

Madrid had picked up 52 points from a possible 54 since that match, but their hopes of a third successive title now look sunk after they fell seven points adrift of Barca with only four games remaining.

Barca, who also hold the better head-to-head record against their rivals, can now clinch the title next weekend if they beat Villarreal and Madrid lose to Valencia.

In last season's corresponding fixture Barca had a night to forget, starting with the chastening experience of giving hosts Madrid a guard of honour and applauding them onto the pitch for having just won the league, and ending with a 4-1 hammering.

It was a completely different story tonight, though they needed to bounce back from an early deficit as Madrid went ahead inside 14 minutes through Gonzalo Higuain.

Pique wrapped up the scoring eight minutes from time with what was Barca's 100th league goal of the season.

Barca can now look forward to their midweek Champions League semi-final trip to Chelsea confident that they virtually have the Primera Division title wrapped up.