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LFP: Messi rescues Barcelona at lowly Osasuna

Lionel Messi scored a thunderous 84th-minute winner as leaders Barcelona came back to overcome bottom side Osasuna 3-2 on Sunday and restore their 12-point cushion over second-placed Real Madrid.

Osasuna, with just two wins in the whole campaign, looked poised to cause the biggest upset of the season after goals from Miguel Flano (62 minutes) and Walter Pandiani (72 minutes) had canceled out Samuel Eto帰旧 44th minute opener.

Barca were facing their first defeat since the opening day of the season, but Xavi marked his 300th league appearance with an 80th-minute equalizer.

Four minutes later, Messi cut inside and fired a ferocious left-footed shot into the corner for his 11th goal of the season.

巣e had some luck at the end, but I think we deserved it,� Xavi said. 荘he pitch and the climate [fog and rain] didn急 help, but we showed the right attitude to get the win.�

Barca coach Pep Guardiola praised Messi.

荘he third goal was all about Messi and his quality,� Guardiola said. 荘he talent of our players made the difference in the end, but this is a great lesson for us. If we let our guard down things like this can happen. We played with real fire and needed some luck to come through a complicated match.�

Real Madrid had celebrated a 3-0 win over Real Mallorca hours earlier and must have thought Barca were going to drop at least a point, but Messi had other ideas. Last season Real registered a record 47 points at the mid-way point of 19 games and Barca have equaled that points total and have a game in hand to beat the record.

Real captain Raul celebrated his 500th league appearance in the famous white shirt with a goal as the champions won away in the league for the first time since Oct. 18 when they beat Atletico Madrid 2-1.

Arjen Robben opened the scoring in the third minute, before Raul struck on 17 minutes with his seventh goal of the campaign. Sergio Ramos netted a third in the second half.

争coring so early on made it a lot easier for us,� Real coach Juande Ramos said. 遷allorca had to take more risks and then the second goal arrived quickly. We had the match under control because of the opening goal and they had to change their strategy and open up. A team like Real are capable of controlling games like this.�

Real legend Raul now stands sixth in the Spanish league appearance standings, just 24 matches from equaling the club record held by Manuel Sanchis. Former Barcelona goalkeeper Andoni Zubizarreta holds the all-time appearance record with 622 league outings.

Atletico Madrid�s match against Athletic Bilbao had to be halted for a minute because of a continual barrage of snowballs being thrown toward the visitors goal.

斉efore the start of the game and when we were on the pitch, home fans behind the goal defended by Bilbao threw numerous snowballs towards the goal, some of them hitting the goalkeeper,� referee Cesar Muniz Fernandez said in his match report.

The game started after a message had been put out over the stadium PA system asking fans to desist.

戦n the fifth minute, I was forced to stop the game for a minute because of the continuous throwing of snowballs and had to ask officials to take the necessary measures,� Fernandez said.

Atletico lost 3-2 to increase the calls for coach Javier Aguirre旧 head. Bilbao came from a goal down to stun Atletico, whose misery was summed up when Maniche was sent off for a second yellow card in the closing stages.

Atletico are now four points behind fourth-placed Valencia and, despite guiding the club into the last 16 of this season旧 Champions League, Aguirre is clinging to his job.

繊f course it hurts to lose, not play well and have the public air their frustration at me or the players,� Aguirre said. 巣e have taken two steps back in the league and the cup, but we have to continue fighting to the death in both.�

Spanish La Liga