BARCELONA — Cristiano Ronaldo scored a sensational goal and was then sent off for a combination of his provocative celebration and for diving as Real Madrid beat Barcelona 3-1 in an explosive Spanish Super Cup first leg Sunday.

Gerard Pique scored an own goal early in the second half to give Real the lead in the annual curtain raiser between the Liga champions and the King’s Cup holder although Lionel Messi looked to have saved his blushes by scoring a controversial penalty in the 77th minute after Luis Suarez was fouled.

Substitute Ronaldo, who came on in the 58th minute, rattled in a sensational strike from outside the area three minutes later to restore the Liga and European champion’s advantage, earning a booking for removing his shirt and mimicking Messi’s celebration at the Santiago Bernabeu in last April’s Clasico.

Ronaldo was given a second yellow card moments later for diving to attempt to win a penalty and will miss Wednesday’s second leg at the Bernabeu. After he was ordered off, the Portuguese pushed referee Ricardo De Burgos Bengoetxea in frustration.

Barca rallied late in search of an equalizer but Spanish forward Marco Asensio instead extended Madrid’s advantage in the tie with a scorching strike from outside the area in the 90th minute to cap a thrilling second half.

“These games are like this, you switch off for one second and relax and loads of things happen, but I’m very happy with the game,” said Real captain Sergio Ramos.

“We’re fighting for a trophy and this is an important step.”

Barca midfielder Sergio Busquets said: “A 3-1 defeat at home is very difficult to take; the tie seems very tough for us now but we’ll try and make a go of it, even though we’ve made it almost impossible for us.

“Whoever scores first in these games has a huge advantage, and Madrid did very well on the counter-attack.”

Ronaldo faces lengthy ban

Cristiano Ronaldo could face a four to 12-game ban for pushing referee Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea after being shown a controversial red card in Real Madrid’s 3-1 Spanish Super Cup, first leg win at Barcelona.

Madrid intend to appeal the second yellow card shown to the World Player of the Year for diving eight minutes from time when he went down inside the area under pressure from Samuel Umtiti, in a bid to free Ronaldo to play in Wednesday’s second leg.

“We will see if we can do something so that he is available on Wednesday,” said Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane.

However, Ronaldo’s reaction to the 10th red card of his career could see him miss the start of the La Liga season after the referee reported he had been pushed.

“Once shown the red card, said player (Ronaldo) pushed me lightly as a sign of his disapproval,” de Burgos Bengoetxea wrote in his referee’s report.

According to the Spanish football federation’s rules, such offences are met with a suspension of anything between four and 12 games, but previous cases have resulted in four-game bans.

Ronaldo could therefore miss Madrid’s first four La Liga games against Deportivo la Coruna, Valencia, Levante and Real Sociedad.

Neymar scores on PSG debut

Neymar lived up to expectations as he showed his class on his Ligue 1 debut Sunday, scoring one and setting up another goal in Paris St Germain’s 3-0 win at En Avant Guingamp.

The Brazilian, who joined PSG for a record-shattering 222 million euros ($262.47 million) from Barcelona this month, found Edinson Cavani with a perfectly-timed, defense-splitting pass after the break and the Uruguay striker added to Jordan Ikoko’s own goal.

The record attendance at the tiny Roudourou stadium was broken as 18,378 fans attended the much-anticipated debut of the Brazil forward.

PSG is second on six points, behind Olympique Lyonnais on goals scored with Monaco, which thrashed Dijon 4-1 away earlier Sunday, in third place also on six points.

France international Mbappe was left on the bench amid speculation that he wants to join PSG.

Lazio stuns Juve for Super Cup

Lazio defeated Juventus for the first time in four years with a 3-2 triumph in the Italian Super Cup Sunday with victory secured by an injury-time goal from substitute Alessandro Murgia. — Agencies