Barca wins against Athletic Club to remain five clear
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Barcelona's Lionel Messi (R) celebrates his goal against Athletic Bilbao with teammates Dani Alves (L) and David Villa during their Spanish first division soccer match at Nou Camp stadium in Barcelona February 20, 2011. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
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Goals from David Villa and Leo Messi helped Barcelona to a hard fought 2-1 win at home to Athletic Club Bilbao.
Villa scored after 4 minutes, while Messi netted 13 minutes from time, but the league leaders had to suffer after Andoni Iriola had drawn Athletic level four minutes into the second half.
Barca had most of the ball, but in a pulsating game, Athletic never gave them chance to breathe, while looking to attack constantly on the break.
In the end, the combination of Messi, Xavi Hernandez and Dani Alves was enough to see Barca home with Alves supplying the passes for both goals.
Villarreal's miserable run continued with a 1-1 draw against bottom of the table Malaga. Marco Ruben scored for Villarreal after 15 minutes and the home side missed enough chances to have won the game easily.
The chances went begging and Malaga stole a point thanks to a goal from Sebastian Fernandez with just 8 minutes remaining.
Goalkeeper Dani Aranzubia was the hero for Deportivo la Coruna scoring a headed goal in the 95th minute of his side's 1-1 draw away to Almeria after Pablo Piatti had opened the scoring for the Andalusian side.
Jose Luis Mendilibar enjoyed a successful debut as Osasuna coach as his side brushed past high flying Espanyol 4-0. Javed Nekounman scored the opening two goals, while Lolo and Francisco Soriano rounded off the win with a late goal.
Pablo Pinillos scored the only goal of the game as Racing won their second game under the guidance of new coach Marcelino Garcia away to Getafe. Racing continues to escape the relegation zone, while Getafe are in mid table with little chance of qualifying for Europe next season.
Sevilla also returned to winning ways thanks to a solitary goal from recent arrival Ivan Raketic. His first half strike gave Sevilla a 1-0 win over Hercules and while Sevilla still have hopes of qualifying for Europe, Hercules are battling to avoid a swift return to the second division.
Saturday saw Karim Benzema and Ricardo Carvalho score first half goals to give Real Madrid a comfortable win over a Levante side that appeared happy to simply avoid a repeat of the 8-0 defeat they had suffered in the Copa del Rey.
Valencia and Sporting drew a tedious game 0-0 in a result that keeps Valencia third in the table, while A second half goal from Kun Aguero gave Atletico Madrid a fortunate 1-0 win against Zaragoza.
Zaragoza slip back into the bottom three, while Atletico coach Quique Sanchez Flores saves his job for another week.
Real Sociedad entertain Mallorca on Monday to end the current round of matches.
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