Two goals from Messi see Barcelona close gap on leaders Real Madrid
Barcelona beat the fifth-placed side Valencia 4-2 at the Camp Nou. Goals from Messi, Suarez and Andre Gomes were enough to secure victory for the home side while the visiting side had to play the entire second-half with 10 men.
Barcelona fell behind after Eliaquim Mangala scored from a header on a corner-kick to give Valencia a 0-1 lead. Suarez restored parity in the 35th minute for Barcelona. Mangala was then sent-off just before half-time for unfairly denying Suarez a scoring opportunity inside the box. Messi converted the resulting penalty to make it 2-1 for the Blaugranas. Munir El Haddadi, on loan from Barcelona, scored for Valencia in extratime of the first half to make it 2-2.
Messi scored again in the 53rd minute, making it 2-2 in favour of Barcelona. Andre Gomes scored from a tap-in in the dying minutes to win it 4-2 for the home side.
Real Madrid move to the top of La Liga as Barcelona lose
Atletico Madrid also inched close to Sevilla after the win
Goals from Diego Godin, Griezmann and Koke took Atletico to a 3-1 victory over rivals Sevilla. Playing at the Vicente Calderon, the home side took a led through a Godin header goal in the first half.
Star forward Antoine Griezmann scored from a stunning free kick to make it 2-0 in the 61st minute. Koke scored third goal in 77th minute before Joaquin Correa grabbed a late consolation goal for Sevilla in 85th minute.
Real top the la liga table with 65 points from 27 games, two ahead of Barcelona’s 63 from 28 games while Sevilla are at the third position with 57 points in 28 games, two points ahead of Atletico from same number of games.
