Barcelona took a big step toward successfully defending its Spanish league title when it fought back to beat Atletico Madrid 2-1 on Saturday.

Jorge "Koke" Resurreccion gave Atletico a great start with a goal 10 minutes into the match at the Camp Nou.

But Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez scored to put the hosts in front before Atletico's Filipe Luis earned a direct red card for sticking his studs into Messi's knee seconds before halftime.

Diego Godin left Atletico down two men from the 65th with a second booking for a second hard foul on Suarez.

Barcelona, which has a game in hand, opened a three-point lead over second-place Atletico.

Third-place Real Madrid is seven points adrift before hosting Espanyol on Sunday.

The highly charged match between the past two league champions, who started level on points atop the table, promised to be a fight between Barcelona's spectacular attack led by Messi and an Atletico defense anchored by goalkeeper Jan Oblak, who had conceded a league-low eight goals and only three away from home.

Once again, it was Messi who snuffed out Atletico's promising initial push before Barcelona's attack won the day and extended its undefeated streak to 26 consecutive matches.

Despite missing two months with injury, Messi recorded his 21st goal in all competitions this season, while Suarez's 31st goal overall took his league-leading tally to 19.

To make things worse for Atletico, which was eliminated from the Copa del Rey this week, winter signing Augusto Fernandez was carried off on a stretcher in the 76th with an apparent left leg injury.

Atletico coach Diego Simeone opted to reinforce his starting 11 with Fernandez and leave struggling strikers Luciano Vietto and Jackson Martinez on the bench, playing only Antoine Griezmann up front.

His decision paid dividends at the start. Koke was left unmarked to sweep in Yannick Carraso's cross, following a routine throw-in that caught Barcelona off-guard.

Atletico continued to boss the first half hour— with Fernandez almost adding another goal — until Suarez earned a foul for Godin's first booking, and finally forced Oblak to make a save.

Moments later, Oblak could do nothing to stop Messi from ruining his run of five consecutive clean sheets when Jordi Alba took his time to find him in a crowded area. The Ballon d'Or holder did the rest by slicing a ball just inside the post to make it 1-1.

Suarez took full advantage of Atletico's first dip in concentration in defense in the 38th. Dani Alves lobbed a long ball forward for Suarez, who used his big frame to fend off Jose Jimenez before slotting the ball under Oblak.

Down a goal and a man to start the second half, Atletico looked to Carrasco again to try and grab a lifeline. The attacking midfielder followed up an electric run when moments later he crossed for Griezmann, only for Barcelona goalie Claudio Bravo to make a superb save with his foot to keep out his point-blank volley.

Godin's sending off for another foul on Uruguay teammate Suarez quashed any thoughts of an Atletico rally, but a late free kick saw Oblak join the fray in hopes of a last-gasp goal.

Fourth-place Villarreal hosted Granada late, while Athletic Bilbao visited Getafe, Eibar faced Malaga, and Real Betis was at Real Sociedad.

(For more sports news and updates, follow Ahram Online Sports on Twitter at @AO_Sports and on Facebook at AhramOnlineSports.)