Late Messi strike keeps Barca top

Barcelona stay top of Spain’s Primera Division with win over Malaga.

Lionel Messi
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Messi scores the late winner for Barca [AFP]

Barcelona restored their two-point lead at the top of Spain’s Primera Division when Lionel Messi finished a slick move to fire the champions to a hard-fought 2-1 home win over Malaga.

Pep Guardiola’s side were under pressure after Real Madrid’s in-form striker Gonzalo Higuain had struck twice to lead them to a 5-1 win at Tenerife in the earlier kickoff.

Real’s sixth straight victory briefly sent them a point clear at the top on 59 points from 24 matches before Barca replied by seeing off stubborn Malaga.

Early chances

The Andalucians were pinned back from the start at the Nou Camp with Argentina forward Messi and Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic having early chances.

Ibrahimovic flashed a long-range freekick just wide of the post in the 24th minute and Messi shot wastefully over the bar five minutes later.

The visitors defended resolutely, with Weligton in the thick of the action, and the Brazilian cleared an Ibrahimovic header off the line just before the hour.

Pedro, in the starting lineup in place of France forward Thierry Henry, finally broke the deadlock in the 68th minute with a superb long-range strike but Valdo stunned the home side with a breakaway equaliser in the 81st.

Malaga looked to have secured an unlikely point before Spain midfielder Xavi split their defence with a perfectly weighted pass for right back Daniel Alves and the Brazilian squared for Messi to tap in an 84th-minute winner.

Windy conditions

Liga results

Saturday February 27

undefined Barcelona 2-1 Malaga
undefined Getafe 0-2 Real Zaragoza
undefined Tenerife 1-5 Real Madrid

Sunday February 28

undefined Atletico Madrid 4-1 Valencia
undefined Racing 0-2 Almeria
undefined Sevilla 0-0 Athletic Bilbao
undefined Sporting Gijon 3-2 Osasuna
undefined Valladolid 1-2 Mallorca
undefined Villarreal 1-0 Deportivo
undefined Xerez 1-1 Espanyol

Second-from-bottom Tenerife started brightly at a blustery Heliodoro stadium and Real defender Raul Albiol did well to block a close-range Alejandro Alfaro volley in the first minute.

The home side’s resistance lasted until just before the half-hour mark when defender Marcelo played the ball into space and Argentina striker Higuain arrowed a low shot past goalkeeper Sergio Aragoneses.

Central defender Ezequiel Garay made a rare foray forward to set up Real’s second in the 42nd, Higuain timing his run perfectly to sweep his compatriot’s centre into the net from the edge of the penalty area.

Higuain’s double gave him 16 league goals this season, one short of top marksmen Messi and David Villa of Valencia.

Midfielder Ayoze pulled one back for Tenerife a minute after the break before Brazilian playmaker Kaka restored Real’s two-goal advantage two minutes later.

Cristiano Ronaldo netted a penalty, his 13th league goal of the season, with 10 minutes remaining and substitute Raul glanced in Real’s fifth in added time.

“Things were working for us virtually the whole time,” Real coach Manuel Pellegrini told a news conference.

“However, you always need to improve and we’re still not the perfect team.”

Atletico win

In Sunday’s action Diego Forlan scored twice as Atletico Madrid won 4-1 against Valencia, who ended the game with nine men.

The result means Valencia stay third on 46 points and Atletico move up to 11th on 30.

Joseba Llorente scored the winner as Villarreal beat Deportivo La Coruna 1-0 and moved closer to the European places.

Mallorca moved to fifth on 40 points after winning 2-1 at Valladolid with a late goal from Julio Alvarez. Victory closed the gap on Sevilla, who are fourth on 43 points after earning a 0-0 draw with only 10 men for most of the second half of their game against Athletic Bilbao.

Diego Castro scored an 80th minute penalty to give Sporting Gijon a 3-2 win against Osasuna, bottom-of-league Xerez drew 1-1 with Espanyol and Almeria won 2-0 at Racing Santander. 

Source: Reuters