Barca open four-point gap with sensational display, Real held

MADRID: Barcelona opened up a four-point gap at the top of the Spanish First Division on Sunday when they staged another sensational display of attacking football to sweep aside Malaga 4-1.

Motivated by Real Madrid’s shock 1-1 draw at bottom side Almeria earlier in the day, Barcelona were quickly out of the blocks and Andres Iniesta scored the opening goal after just seven minutes.

World Player of the Year Lionel Messi was running circles around the Malaga defence and the little Argentine set up David Villa to double the advantage, while Pedro Rodriguez added a third before the break.

Malaga had more possession in the second half and they pulled a goal back through a fine Duda free-kick.

But Barcelona raised their level again, and Villa latched on to a Xavi Hernandez pass to notch up his second of the night.

“It is ridiculous to talk about a four-point gap at this stage of the season as it is nothing. There is a long way to go and we can drop points,” said Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola.

“We will continue to take risks and play our style of football. It is important for us to keep working and concentrating on our own situation.”

Malaga coach Manuel Pellegrini admitted that his side were well beaten.

An Esteban Granero strike rescued a point for misfiring Real against Almeria. In stark contrast to Barcelona, the talk in recent weeks has been over Real’s lack of fire-power following an injury to Gonzalo Higuain and although they saw plenty of the ball in midfield they were unable to create any clear chances in the first half.

Karim Benzema was brought on for Kaka after the break but it was Almeria who broke the deadlock on the hour mark against the run of play through Jose Ulloa.

Substitute Granero fired Real level in the 77th minute and in an action-packed finish Cristiano Ronaldo hit the post for the visitors with a free-kick.

“We dropped two points but looking at the first half of the season as a whole then we have done well,” said Real coach Jose Mourinho.

“I also want to say that we want to win the title and not just have good results so we will have to wait and see what happens from here on.”

Mourinho was furious with the referee who turned down a succession of penalty appeals.

“I hope that Perez Lasa does not referee our games again and also those of Barcelona. I do not complain about referees and I prefer to talk positively about them. However, I have known Mr Lasa since 1996 and the Lasa of 2011 is exactly the same.”

Valencia beat Deportivo Coruna 2-0 and their fourth consecutive victory means they remain two points behind third-placed Villarreal.

After a tight start, the game opened up following the break but it appeared to be heading for a draw until Jeremy Mathieu squeezed the ball home from a tight angle with 13 minutes to go.

Then Pablo Hernandez added another with a breakaway goal in injury time.