Lionel Messi rescues Barcelona to send them top of La Liga

Barcelona have climbed above Real Madrid and Sevilla to the top of La Liga courtesy of a 2-1 victory over Atletico Madrid at the Vicente Calderon this afternoon.


Diego Godin had quickly cancelled out Rafinha's second-half opener as the two top-four rivals looked on course for a share of the spoils, but Lionel Messi struck late to rescue his side for the second consecutive week and send them two points clear at the top of the table.

Having only scraped past lowly Leganes in their last outing, Luis Enrique brought back the likes of Gerard Pique, Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets for his side's final league visit to the Vicente Calderon, but it was Atletico who made the brighter start to the match.

The hosts created two good chances in the opening five minutes as they looked to pile more pressure on the Barca manager, but neither Yannick Carrasco or Diego Godin could make the most of their early openings.

Barca's fabled attacking trio of Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar were kept quiet for the vast majority of the opening 45 minutes, but Messi did fire one snapshot over the crossbar after good work from Suarez.

Atletico were soon back on the attack, though, and Gabi forced a routine stop from Marc-Andre ter Stegen before Samuel Umtiti made a crucial block to deny Antoine Griezmann a fourth goal in his last three home games against Barca.

An out-of-sorts Barcelona side struggled to get into any sort of rhythm as the hosts continued to force mistakes from their visitors, but Ter Stegen was not affected by the form of those in front of him and made a flying save to keep out Griezmann's powerful 25-yard drive shortly before the half-hour mark.

Enrique's side did provide a warning shot of the speed at which they can change a game shortly afterwards when Messi's low strike sparked a goalmouth scramble that resulted with Suarez nodded the ball into an empty net, but the whistle had gone for a handball against the Uruguayan before he applied the finishing touch.

As was the case against Leganes last weekend, though, it was Ter Stegen who was arguably the standout performer for Barcelona in the first half and his intuition came to the rescue when Griezmann found himself in down the left channel, reading the Frenchman's intentions to cut out his low pass across goal.

Suarez broke straight up the other end and fired a 20-yard effort narrowly over before the Uruguayan won his side a free kick in a dangerous position as the visitors finally began to settle into the match. Messi curled the set piece towards the top corner, but Jan Oblak was at full stretch to turn it over the bar.

Arguably the best chance of the first half arrived just two minutes before the interval, and it was Barcelona who almost took an undeserved lead into the break when Pique rose highest in the area only to see his header kept out by Oblak.

Having started to flex their attacking muscles more towards the end of the first half, Barcelona should have taken the lead early in the second when Messi slid the ball through for Suarez but, with only the keeper to beat, the Uruguayan steered a poor finish comfortably wide of the target.

Atletico continues to pose a threat of their own going forward, though, and Ter Stegen was once again needed to deny Griezmann from a tight angle before Godin sent a looping header onto the roof of the net shortly afterwards.

The opening goal of the game finally arrived in the 64th minute when Atletico Madrid failed to clear the lines during a prolonged spell of Barca pressure, and a blocked shot from Suarez eventually fell kindly into the path of Rafinha, who swept it past Oblak.

That lead lasted just six minutes before the hosts were level, though, as Koke's free kick from the left was met by Godin, whose glancing header diverted the ball past Ter Stegen from a tight angle.

It looked increasingly as though Barcelona would drop more points in the title race, but for the second consecutive week Messi came to their rescue in the dying embers of the game when he poked a loose ball past Oblak from close range having seen his initial shot blocked.

It was the Argentine's 27th career goal against Atletico, equalling his personal record against a single club, and it proved to be the winner as Barca held out for a crucial three points that piles the pressure back on perennial rivals Real Madrid.

Los Blancos will have the chance to move back top of the table if they beat Villarreal later this evening, but Barca have now stretched their unbeaten record in La Liga to 17 matches - the longest streak in Europe's top five divisions.









Credit: Sportsmole