Barcelona opened up a three-point lead at the top of the Spanish first division with Lionel Messi’s seventh goal of the season and a late goal from substitute Seydou Keita sealing a 2-0 win over struggling Recreativo Huelva on Sunday.
A cunning training ground free-kick provided the breakthrough with Argentine Messi peeling off the wall to fire a fierce shot home on 51 minutes before Keita scored minutes after coming on. It was a ninth successive league win for Barca who had a great weekend with all their title rivals dropping points.
“It is not as if we are the champions,” said Barca coach Pep Guardiola. “We are just top at the moment and of course we want to stay there.”
“We have a tough game against Getafe next weekend and we want to win that match too. Recreativo were an awkward opponent and we had to be patient but a game lasts 90 minutes so it is fine,” he said.
Villarreal drew 2-2 with Malaga on Sunday and now sit three points behind Barcelona while Real Madrid and Valencia are five points back after losing on Saturday. Real lost 1-0 at Valladolid while Sporting Gijon overcame Valencia 3-2 at the Mestalla.
Barca wanted to take advantage of the slips but found Huelva a tough nut to crack. Samuel Eto’o had bagged four goals in his last match but endured a frustrating first half with a vital late block and a brilliant save from Recre goalkeeper Asier Riesgo denying him his 14th goal of the campaign.
“Riesgo” means “risk” but the Huelva goalkeeper was anything but with some fine stops to thwart Eto’o and Thierry Henry who missed a sitter.
A great 51st minute set-piece from the training ground opened the hosts up with Xavi Hernandez lining up a shot before passing to Messi, who had spun off the wall, and the Argentine hammered a shot into the roof of the net.
On 85 minutes Keita, who had only been on the pitch eight minutes, added a second from close range after Eto’o screwed his shot.
Villarreal coach Manuel Pellegrini was understandably disappointed at dropping two points in the title race as Malaga scored a 90th minute equalizer to snatch a 2-2 draw on Sunday.
Villarreal looked set for victory holding a 2-1 lead going into the dying moments of the match but Portuguese defender Helder equalized in the final minute.
After exiting the Spanish Cup to minnows Polideportivo Ejido in midweek, Villarreal wanted to respond and looked set to do just that. Giuseppe Rossi struck on seven minutes and Jose Llorente restored their lead four minutes after the break after Sergio Duda had replied for Malaga. But Helder levelled for Malaga and while Villarreal stretch their unbeaten league run to 17 games — with their last league defeat coming back in April — the two points dropped are a blow.
Champions Real Madrid are having a tough time of things with the 1-0 defeat against Valladolid on Saturday the latest setback.
Real’s woe will delight Atletico Madrid fans and their team also gave them something to shout about with a convincing 4-1 win over Deportivo La Coruña on Sunday. Diego Forlan scored twice to help Atletico up to sixth although they are still five points behind Sevilla who defeated Getafe 2-0 to move level on 23 points with Real and Valencia.
“The points mean we can aspire to be among the big teams,” Sevilla coach Manolo Jimenez said. “We consider ourselves one of those big teams.”
Spanish La Liga
Team P GD PTS
1 Barcelona 11 28 28
2 Villareal 11 10 25
3 Valencia 11 13 23
4 Real Madrid 11 11 23
5 Sevilla 11 10 23
6 Atletico Madrid 11 6 17
7 Deportivo La Coruna 11 -3 15
8 Almeria 11 -4 15
9 Sporting Gijon 11 -6 15
10 Real Betis 11 2 14
11 Malaga 12 -5 14
12 Getafe 12 -5 13
13 Valladolid 11 -7 13
14 Racing Santander 11 -4 12
15 Mallorca 11 -5 12
16 Espanyol 11 -5 12
17 Numancia 11 -10 10
18 Athletic Bilbao 11 -8 9
19 Osasuna 12 -7 8
20 Recreativo Huelva 11 -12 7
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