Barcelona: Barcelona came through a testing local derby at Espanyol, winning 3-0 to cling to their slender lead at the top of La Liga after rivals Real Madrid had set the challenge by beating Valencia 2-1 despite a sloppy display in the earlier kick-off, Saturday.
Barca triumphed thanks to two clinical finishes from Luis Suarez and a strike from Ivan Rakitic following a vintage slalom run by Lionel Messi.
Suarez pounced on a disastrous backpass from Jose Manuel Jurado to break the deadlock in the 50th minute and Rakitic sealed the win in the 76th by side-footing home Messi’s cutback after the Argentine had torn through the home defence.
Suarez, who had failed to score in his previous five games in all competitions, took advantage of another calamitous error by the otherwise impressive Espanyol backline and rifled in Barca’s third from close range in the 87th minute.
The pressure was on Barca after Real Madrid had beaten Valencia earlier in the day to provisionally lead the standings, and the champions got an early fright when Jurado eased into their area but fired wide of the far post.
Espanyol’s good organisation then went to waste when Jurado gifted the ball to Suarez, who knocked it past former Real Madrid goalkeeper Diego Lopez with an effortless flick of the outside of his right boot to send the champions on their way.
“I think we deserved the win because we gave a serious performance,” said Barca coach Luis Enrique. “We knew that in the second half their high pressing would allow us to create more up front. We wore out the opposition.”
Barca top the league standings on 81 points due to their superior head-to-head record over Real, who also have 81 and have a game in hand.
Reuters
