EUROPE: BARCELONA opened a three-point lead at the top of the Primera Liga last night after goals from Lionel Messi and Seydou Keita gave them a 2-0 win at Recreativo Huelva.
Spain midfielder Xavi fooled the Recreativo defence by playing a short ball to Messi from a free-kick and the Argentine smashed the ball into the roof of the net for his seventh league goal of the season.
Keita sealed the win near the end with a simple tap-in from Samuel Eto'o's mishit shot.
Earlier, Villarreal twice surrendered the lead to draw 2-2 at Malaga, Diego Forlan scored twice as Atletico Madrid thumped visiting Deportivo Coruna 4-1 and Sevilla won 2-0 at Getafe.
Last night's victory extends Barcelona's winning streak in the league to nine and the Catalans have 28 points from 11 matches ahead of unbeaten Villarreal on 25.
Real Madrid and Valencia both missed opportunities to take provisional top spot on Saturday.
Fourth-placed Real's poor run of form continued when they lost 1-0 at Real Valladolid and Valencia were beaten 3-2 at home by Sporting Gijon and are third.
Real, Valencia and Sevilla all have 23 points, with the Andalusians in fifth on goal difference, and Atletico are one place behind Sevilla on 17.
In Italy, Kaka scored a penalty to help AC Milan cut the gap on leaders Inter to a point with a 1-0 home win over Chievo yesterday.
Napoli also scored thanks to a spot kick but failed to join Milan on 26 points after two late goals gave Atalanta a 3-1 home win.
Champions Inter Milan won 2-0 at Palermo on Saturday thanks to Zlatan Ibrahimovic's double while Juventus, now third on 24 points, beat Genoa 4-1 on Thursday.
Fifth-placed Lazio missed the chance to move above Juve when they lost 1-0 to AS Roma in the Rome derby last night. Julio Baptista headed home on 50 minutes to give Roma only their third league win this term.
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