SPANISH LA LIGA:LIONEL Messi rescued a nervy Barcelona with a late goal to earn a 2-1 victory over Athletic Bilbao in a thrilling La Liga match last night.
The World Player of the Year scored the winner in the 77th minute as Barcelona desperately poured forward after Andoni Iraola had cancelled out David Villa’s early opener with a 49th-minute penalty.
Barcelona moved on to 65 points from 24 matches, keeping Real Madrid five points back in second after Jose Mourinho’s outfit eased to a 2-0 victory over Levante on Saturday.
Mourinho's nine-year unbeaten home record in league matches was never under threat as his side eased past Levante. The Portuguese coach last suffered a league defeat in front of his own fans when Porto lost to visiting Beira Mar on February 23rd, 2002 and since then he has gone unbeaten in 148 games with Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real.
His 100 per cent home record since arriving at the Bernabeu moved on to 12 wins from 12 with first-half goals from Karim Benzema and Ricardo Carvalho that put Real on 60 points. Real were without suspended goalkeeper Iker Casillas and rested the likes of Pepe, Mesut Ozil and Xabi Alonso ahead of tomorrow’s Champions League last 16 trip to Olympique Lyon, but still took the lead after only six minutes through Benzema.
France striker Benzema had opened the scoring in the same minute back in December and this time he simply provided the finish after some great wing play from Angel Di Maria, who had skipped between three defenders before crossing. Carvalho turned in Cristiano Ronaldo's freekick from close range.
At the Mestalla, Sporting Gijon, who had ended Barcelonas 16-match winning streak with a 1-1 draw last weekend, put in another disciplined display to deny Valencia.
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