Real Madrid handed Barcelona their first loss of the year as Los Blancos defeated their bitter rival 3-1 in Luis Suarez's debut, who was inserted in the starting line-up after coming off his suspension for biting a player during a World Cup game.

Suarez made his debut with Barcelona just 18 hours after his ban ended. Suarez was suspended by FIFA for biting defender Giorgio Chiellini during the World Cup match between Uruguay and Italy.

"I don't regret that he started, he did more than I expected him to do, and I substituted him for fitness reasons," said Barcelona coach Luis Enrique of the Uruguyan striker.

Suarez would not take a shot in his 69 minutes of action but did complete 90 percent of his passes and setting up three solid opportunities for Barcelona.

Suarez made an impact right away, assisting Neymar with a goal, finding the Brazilian open on a cross-field pass in the 4th minute, to help put Barcelona up 1-0 early in the game.

"I felt really good," said Suarez after the game. "I have been training for a long time with this game in mind and so when the coach made the decision I was in the right shape to play,"

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But Barcelona's Gerard Pique's hand ball in the box would cost his team dearly, allowing Cristiano Ronaldo to score off a penalty shot and becoming the first person in La Liga to get a shot past Claudio Bravo all season long.

Real Madrid's Pepe would break the tie finishing off Toni Kroos' corner kick with a header in the 50th minute of the match before James Rodriguez assisted Karim Benzema with a goal in the 61st minute to seal the deal to give Madrid the 3-1 victory.

"I'm proud of these players because their professionalism and seriousness is unique," said Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti. "We didn't lose our heads after going behind. We stuck to our ideas and everything came off well. We wanted to attack, with possession, using the wings. In the second half, we won the game because we wanted to win it."

With the victory, Real Madrid hands their long-time rival their first La Liga loss of the season and cuts down Barcelona's lead in the league (22 points) by one point with Real Madrid ending the day in second place with with 21 points.

"I was expecting a different type of game, not one in which we would be so unconvincing in defense," said Enrique. "We have to correct that because if we don't we will really struggle -- like we did today."

Real Madrid plays third division Cornella in Copa del Rey action, Granada in La Liga play, and Liverpool at the Bernabeu in a Champions League group stage in upcoming games while Barca hosts Celta Vigo in a La Liga game and go on the road to battle Ajax Amsterdam in a Champions League match-up.

"This is a very important win for us because Barcelona were very strong, and we achieved our goal of cutting the points gap, so we are very satisfied," said Ancelotti.

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