Barcelona beat Real Sociedad 2-1 in the Nou Camp on Saturday to keep alive their title hopes and remain seven points behind leaders Madrid, who earlier had beaten Getafe 1-0 thanks to a Sergio Ramos goal.

Read “Barca pass test to remain 7 points from Madrid” at AFP

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Barcelona were back on level terms eight minutes later as the talismanic Puyol leapt highest at the back post to head into the net and give his side what could be an invaluable away goal for next week’s second leg.

It was all the more creditable as coach Pep Guardiola had to do without a quintet of first choice players because of injury including Pedro Rodriguez and Andres Iniesta.

Barça are looking a little frayed at the moment and with Messi missing a penalty, they need to step up their game. Proably the Spanish League is now out of reach, as in recent years only Valencia has come back from a seven point deficit. It will require Real Madrid’s ambitions to be massively derailed if that were to happen this year with Barça.

Read “Puyol grabs Barca draw in Cup clash” at AFP

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Barca made several chances in the first half but found Lopez in the way, which helped Villarreal’s confidence to grow to where it was creating the better chances late in the first half.

With the deadlock still not broken with 12 minutes to go, Cesc Fabregas had a shot pushed by Lopez onto the bar and a subdued Lionel Messi had two shots blocked in the final minutes.

Read “Barcelona stumbles” at The Age

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Naturally Barça’s players were delighted. According to Goal.com:

Barcelona midfielder Xavi has expressed his delight with his side’s Copa del Rey Rey quarter-final victory over Real Madrid, and admitted the Blaugrana really suffered against the Santiago Bernabeu outfit.

Read “Barcelona’s Xavi: Real Madrid are a superb team but we won the tie” at Goal.com

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A nouveau riche Malaga side that is slowly coming into its own this season could not contain a brilliant Lionel Messi and capitalize against a Barca side resting some of its key players between Clasicos. Rather, Messi again demonstrated why he will go down as one of the all time greats leading Barca to a comfortable 4-1 victory.

You can watch the match highlights in the video below:

Read “Malaga CF 1 – 4 FC Barcelona: Messi Mesmerizes in Malaga” at The Offside

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Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho admitted his players were “deflated” by conceding an equaliser from a corner as they lost 2-1 to Barcelona in the first leg of their Copa del Rey quarter-final at the Bernabeu.

Once again the match was notable for some fairly dirty play from Madrid. Pepe in particular seemed to be out of control and replays of him stamping on Messi’s hand have been beamed around the world to much consternation and calls for action to be taken against him.

Read “Mourinho: Equaliser was key in defeat to Barca” at Irish Examiner

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Barcelona squandered a two-goal lead before seeing off 10-man Real Betis 4-2 to cut Real Madrid’s lead at the top of La Liga back to five points on Sunday.

The first two goals were scored in teh first few minutes by Xavi and Messi; Betis managed to claw back one at the end of the first half before equalising early in the second.

It was only after Betis lost a definder to a second yellow card that Barcelona was able to take control again. Alexis soon scored, followed by Messi from the penalty spot.

Read “Barcelona battle to close gap” at Capial Sports

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Having won the Camp Nou leg 4-0, the second leg was set to be a formality, but Osasuna gave an unfamiliar-looking Barcelona side a tough ride in the first half, taking the lead when José Pinto failed to get a firm enough hand to Serbian forward Dejan Leki?’s shot.

The home team scored the first goal in freezing fog that had threatened to postpone the match and no doubt the players were looking forward to the final whistle throughout the match. However, after the break they came on somewhat reinvigorated and Alexis scored 5 minutes in. It wasn’t until minute 72 that Sergi Roberto scored a second goal for Barça, set up by Messi.

Current title holders Real Madrid will play hosts next Wednesday in the quarter finals, with the Nou Camp leg played a week later.

Read “Barcelona set up Madrid cup meeting” at UEFA.com

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“I want to share this honour with my teammate, Xavi,” added Messi, who then addressed his clubmate in the audience at the FIFA Ballon d’Or Gala.

“He deserves it, too. I want to share it with you, because you deserve it as much as me. It’s a pleasure to be here alongside him and to play with him.”

Can you imaging Ronaldo being so gracious?

Read “Lionel Messi named the world’s best player for the third time” at Herald Sun

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It was far from a vintage performance from Barcelona but they looked in control and they could have had a second from Messi who clipped the post with 12 minutes to go.

But then Espanyol stunned the champions when Thievy headed on a cross to Vazquez who powered it home in front of goal with a diving header.

The match proved to be controversial, with a clear handball inside the Espanyol area going unpunished in injury time, but after the match Pep Guardiola remained unfazed.

Read “Espanyol dent Barcelona’s title hopes” at ABS-CBN News

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