Twitter explodes as Messi-less Barcelona thrash Real Madrid 5-1 in El Clásico

Real Madrid were brutally dismantled and humiliated by a Lionel Messi-less Barcelona in the first El Clasico of the season

Surrounded by plenty of hype, Barcelona hosted Real Madrid in the first Clásico of the season in what turned out to be a historic event - for two reasons.

Firstly, this was the first Clásico of the VAR era. Also, it was the first clash between these two sides in over a decade that was played without either Lionel Messi, who is out injured, or Cristiano Ronaldo, who currently plays for Juventus, in the fray.

Playing at home, Barcelona took the lead as early as the 11th minute through Philippe Coutinho's effort. Luis Suarez then converted a penalty which was awarded to Barcelona after consulting with VAR to make 2-0 in the 30th minute.

Marcelo gave the visitors some hope after scoring in the 50th minute, but Suarez came back with strikes in the 75th minute and 83rd minute to complete a stunning hat-trick and bury Real Madrid in the ground.

Arturo Vidal came off the bench for Barcelona in the 84th minute, and 3 minutes later, struck home Barcelona's 5th of the night.

As Barcelona completed a 4-1 thrashing of their arch-rivals, Twitter understandably erupted as fans from all across the world took to the social media platform to have their say.

Here's a look at some of the best tweets:

Real Madrid fans were clearly left devastated by the result

Ronaldo's absence was brought up yet again.

Of course, so was Messi's.