Lionel Messi scored a brace as Barcelona registered a 3-2 win over Real Sociedad to keep pace with La Liga leaders Real Madrid.
The win allowed the Catalans to remain three points behind Real Madrid, who beat Sporting Gijon by a similar margin earlier on Saturday. Zinedine Zidane’s men have a game in hand going into the El Clasico next weekend.
Messi handed Barca the lead in the 17th minute with goal from 25 yards out. He doubled the advantage in the 37th minute by soring his 498th goal for the club.
Samuel Umtiti’s 42nd minute own goal allowed Sociedad some respite. However, Paco Alcacer made it 3-1 before Xabi Prieto pulled one back in a frantic end to the first half.
Barca, who played a full-strength team, struggled to find any decent scoring opportunities in the second period, but held on the lead to come away with a win.
Isco’s last-minute strike hands Real Madrid 3-2 win over Sporting Gijon
A last-minute strike by Isco helped a second-string Real Madrid outfit to come from behind and beat Sporting Gijon 3-2 on Saturday.
Real, who play Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-final second leg on Tuesday, rested key players Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema.
Sporting took the lead in 14th minute through Duje Cop before Isco levelled the scores three minutes later.
Mikel Vesga headed in five minutes into the second half to hand Gijon the lead for the second time on the night. Alvaro Morata, though, once again put Madrid on level terms with his own header nine minutes later, before Isco scored the last-gasp winner from 20 yards out.
The scores
- Deportivo La Coruna 2 (Joselu, Pedro Mosquera) bt Malaga 0.
- Sporting Gijon 2 (Duje Cop, Mikel Vesga) lost to Real Madrid 3 (Isco x 2, Alvaro Morata).
- Atletico Madrid 3 (Yannick Carrasco x 2, Filipe Luís) bt Osasuna 0.
- Barcelona 3 (Lionel Messi x 2, Paco Alcacer) bt Real Sociedad 2 (Samuel Umtiti-OG, Xabi Prieto).
